You Will be Mine
by Speklez
Summary: The Volturi doesn't give second chances. They also don't take no for an answer. OOC/AU Demetri/Bella All normal disclaimers apply
1. Chapter 1

*****REPOST*** No changes from previous posting*****

 **As you read this story, forget canon exists. I am making my own rules for this one.**

 **DPOV**

 _I couldn't take my eyes off her. Ever since the very first moment I beheld her, took in her scent, I was overcome with possessive want. For a human she was perfection. She was meek and timid, terrified and confused. However, she stood for what she believed in and spoke for a vampire that she knew nothing about._

 _Edward Cullen could lie and hide the truth with the best of our race, something I never understood the point of. Why lie to get what you want? It made no sense when the truth was always far more entertaining to witness the fallout from. The truth always hurts more, even when one discovers the lies they have been told. It matters very little, I suppose. No matter what, the truth always comes out._

" _Demetri, Please show our guests to where they can wait for nightfall."_

 _Pulled out of my thoughts, I bowed my head to my master and held a hand out to the Cullen's and the human. "This way."_

 _As I led them through the hall, the scent of fear and terror that poured off the human and the stench of the emotional cocktail of unease and worry from the vampire wannabes made me chuckle. The seer and mind reader knew what was going to happen, that too much time was spent in the master's presence for them to get to reception before the screams started. I just rolled my eyes. The patheticness of these 'vegetarians' never ceases to amaze me._

 _A dark chuckle left my throat when we passed Heidi and the group of humans that was about to become dinner. I ignored the seer when she spoke about not being fast enough, even slowing slightly as I made my request to save some for me knowing that Felix would eat every last one if he wasn't stopped._

 _When we reached the end of the hall and I pushed open the door, I let the three pass by me, saying nothing as I took in pale skin of the human. Huh, seems she's a little queasy. I let my eyes stay on her a moment longer, just to get under the mind reader's skin before I spoke out loud. "Human."_

 _She jumped a mile out of her skin as she whirled around to face me, her eyes wide and full of terror. Her voice was high, hiding nothing of her current fear. "Yes?"_

 _I looked away from her, locking my eyes on the seer, letting them linger until Isabella too was looking over at her. Another moment passed in their discomfort before I looked back at the human. "A small piece of advice from one that could truly not care less if you follow your orders or not." She gulped and nodded, telling me I had her attention. Stalling just a moment longer, I glanced off over to the mind reader and seer. "It would suite you not to believe everything you hear."_

 _She blinked at me, confusion swirling in her chocolate orbs. She shook her head, her voice quiet. "I don't understand."_

 _I hummed in my throat, an offhand sound that showed it didn't matter to me in the slightest. "Oh, you will." I looked her dead in the eyes, "For now, all you need to know is, you will be mine." I smirked when I heard her heart stutter for a beat and glared with a growl at the mind reader when he snapped at me. "You're not out of trouble yet. I would keep that in mind, Cullen." I grinned and dipped my head as I grabbed the handle to the door, "Do not leave before nightfall. I'll know if you do."_

It has been months since that day in Italy. Weeks spent thinking about that human and everything I would do to her given half a chance. Everyday a new scenario came to mind and every one of them better than last.

Standing across the field from her now, my memory didn't do her the damnedest bit of justice. Just like that day, I couldn't take my eyes off her as she half hid behind the mind reader. A challenging smirk came to my face as I locked my red eyes on his darkening gold. You didn't need his gift to know what was running through his mind right now and I thought it was absolutely hilarious.

As Jane was talking with Carlisle, I had the strangest feeling of being watched, something that the other guards didn't notice. Breaking the staring contest with the mind reader, I shifted my attention to the woods that surrounded us, my nostrils flaring as my gift sparked. No one really knew how my gift really worked but myself and Master Aro. Everyone assumes that I have to actually SEE my target… but that is not the case. All I need is a scent and I can find anyone because every scent is unique to the mind it goes to.

My eyes closed and a hand came up to my nose, the back of two fingers blocking out the putrid scent of vomit covered wet dog. A quiet groan sounded from my throat, drawing the attention of my fellow guards and the Cullen Coven. I gagged as my stomach rolled.

"We are not alone."

Felix growled deep in his throat, a dark glare settling on his face as he turned to face the Cullen Elder. "What is the meaning of this, Cullen?"

I grunted as I too looked at Carlisle, still covering my nose to try and block out the stench. I cocked a brow at his shocked expression, snorting hard to try and clear my nose.

Carlisle turned to look at Edward, his face still horrified, matching looks taking over the rest of them when the mind reader enlightened them, his eyes wide.

"We underestimated his gift."

This time I snorted in amusement. "As do most."

Jane hummed slightly, her face contemplative before she simply shrugged. "They are not our problem." Then she smiled an innocent smile of the child she was, "I do find it interesting, however, that she is still human. I am sure Master Caius will be most interested to learn of this as well."

Isabella was pressed tightly to the side of the mind reader, unable to make eye contact as she spoke. "The date is set. I'll be changed soon."

Alec chuckled and crossed his arms. "You're certainly right about that."

Edward pushed Isabella further behind him. "Aro gave us time to fulfill the order."

Jane smirked at him. "Just how long did you think he was going to give you? It has been months and yet she still breaths. You were given a reprieve and this is how you thank Our Master? Throwing it back in his face with no regard or care? Somehow, I do not see him taking too kindly to this. And, as Master Caius said before you left; the Volturi do not give second chances."

A very amused look over came Felix's face. "The girl comes with us; again."

Felix, Alec, Jane and I never moved a muscle, the world seeming to slow down around us as the coven went on the defensive. We watched as this massive animal came darting out of the woods, showing us what I had smelled, and the mind reader hoisting Isabella on its back and take off.

Alec shook his head, his voice amused. "Why do they always insist on doing this the hard way?"

The rest of us shrugged. We never could figure that out. Maybe it just made them feel better to know they attempted to put up a fight, even knowing they weren't going to win? That was about the only thing I could come up with, not like it mattered much though.

I never took my eyes off the foul smelling creature that took my human, my head cocked to the side slightly.

Jane spoke, her voice off hand. "We'll deal with them, Demetri. You go get her. I want to go home."

I simply nodded. Out of the four of us, not only was I was the fastest, I was the only one that knew where they were.

"I would suggest not killing them outright. Master Aro would not be pleased."

I smirked when Felix snorted. "Always gotta take away our fun, don't you?"

I glanced down the line at the big son of a bitch. "Master Aro is all about lessons, Felix. What will they learn if they are dead?"

With that, I took the path of least resistance, flipping over the group of vampires and landed in a crouch behind them. With a grin over my shoulder, I planted my foot dead center in the biggest Cullen's chest when he went to try and stop me from moving. The action sent him flying right to Felix.

Seeing the black fog of Alec's gift coming my way, I lunged into a sprint and took off into the woods. I knew I wasn't alone in here, the putrid scent trails of at least five more of the smelly bastards crisscrossing the one I was following. The attempt to throw me off was almost commendable, but it was far more irritating than anything.

Still, it didn't take me long to not only catch up to, but pass the massive fucker that still carried Isabella. Sliding to a stop and rounding back, I smirked at the shriek at my appearance. What I now knew to be a mutated wolf skidded to stop, its teeth barred as it growled at me.

Ignoring the thing completely, I looked at Isabella. "Interesting company you keep, Gatáki. First there were fake vampires and now fake werewolves. I must wonder how you are going to react to the real world you seem so interested in."

I saw her fingers tighten in the fur on the back of the beast, her face pale and eyes wide. "We're following the ruling. Why are you doing this?"

I cocked a brow at her. "Are you? To my recollection, you were told not to dally and not to be seen human again. So, forgive me for following my orders because your so-called vampires refused to follow theirs. The only thing in question here is how much blood and venom you want spilt because one way or another, Isabella, you ARE returning to Volterra."

Before she was able to say a word, the mutant pivoted and bolted leaving me to shake my head. "Alec was right." Then I shrugged, "Very well, Gatáki. We'll do this your way."

I tore off after the wolf, deciding to play a little when I felt more of them coming up behind me. Waiting for the last possible second, I leapt into the air, a light flip backwards and I landed behind one that was a brown color. Grabbing it by the tail, I dug a foot into the earth and twisted, swinging it around and slamming it into the side of a pitch black one. I smirked as they tumbled across the ground, limbs tangled together, yelps and whines music to my ears.

Twirling on my toes, I took to the trees, jumping from branch to branch. When I caught up with the silver wolf that was carrying my little human, I swung from the tree I was in and twisted in the air, landing in a crouch three yards from the beast. I knew it was running too fast to stop or change direction in time to avoid a collision, and that was the point.

Before either of them could react, I had Isabella off the dog and over my shoulder and my foot planted in the ribs of the beast. By the time the scream left her lips, we were in the branches of the trees and the mutt was howling in pain at it slammed into a tree.

I glanced back over my shoulder when I felt her hands tighten on my jacket. "Relax, I'm not going to drop you. The game, however, is over. That is, unless you want them to die. Personally, I don't rightly give a fuck."

I heard her breath catch in her throat before she tried to turn her face up to look at me. "They're still alive?"

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Of course. Seriously, do you know nothing about those you keep company with? It will take quite a bit more than a tree to kill someone from the supernatural world. However, I would be more than happy to change that if you'd rather."

Her scent was overtaken with horror. "NO! Please don't."

I smirked, "Then be a good girl and hang on tight."

Ten minutes after I left the clearing, I returned, Isabella still hanging over my shoulder. I calmly walked into the ring of trees, smirking at the sight of the Cullens. Some of them were under Jane's gift, others under Alec, but most of them were in more than one piece. Nothing that wasn't easily fixed however; something that was odd to see with Felix present.

As I strolled over the grass, Felix crossed his arms. "Took you long enough, Dem."

I just shrugged the shoulder the human wasn't occupying. "Because it is so much easier to chase down a moving target compared to a stationary one, yes? Don't be a dick."

I heard Jane groan right before the clearing went silent as she cut off her gift. "Seriously, are you two incapable of not bickering?" I chuckled and winked at her making her groan louder this time with a shake of her head. "We got what you came for. Can we go home now?"

I grinned wide and held a hand out in front of me, telling her to go ahead. Jane huffed out a sigh and turned on her toes, strolling out of the clearing leaving the rest of us to follow. I fell into step with Felix, him taking a moment to glance at the human that was just hanging off my shoulder.

Finally, he looked over at me. "So, how pissed do you think the Cullens are going to be when they put themselves back together again?"

I glanced over my shoulder with a smirk. "Oh, I see a poorly planned, half-assed, ill-fated rescue attempt in the future." I looked over at him with a snicker. "I look forward to it."


	2. Chapter 2

**DPOV**

It was just over two hours later we were in the air, Isabella subdued in a seat in the corner of the plane. Jane was stretched out on a bench reading a book, Felix and Alec were playing poker and I sat across from Isabella, a book of my own in one hand, a glass of wine in the other.

For the most part, everyone kept to themselves. That was, until Isabella sighed for the hundred and twelfth time since take off prompting Jane to growl under her breath.

"If she does that again, I will rip her throat out."

I just chuckled slightly, the action pulling Isabella's attention from the clouds outside the plane to me. She tried to look pissed off I was sure, but she just looked pathetic and the glare held no heat.

"I'm glad you find this so amusing."

I grinned at her. "Oh, I find you temperament far more than just amusing, Gatáki."

Her glare this time had a little more life to it. "You're a jerk."

I just cocked a brow at her. "Whatever is your point? I'm an asshole and you're pathetic. We are what we are." She made and indignant noise and I closed my book. "I suppose you wish argue with me? Go ahead, but before you say a word, take this into consideration. You are in this position by your own choice. You decided to ignore very clear directions and now you must face the consequences. You are sitting here acting like a child instead of owning up to your fuck up and facing the punishment for it."

She seemed to deflate slightly. "You didn't even let me say good-bye."

I snorted and picked my book back up. "You had four months to get your affairs in order. You are barking up the wrong tree for sympathy."

"I told you that the date was set. It was less than two months from now."

I just hummed not looking up. "Is that a fact? Pity your little fortune teller didn't pay close enough attention to you to avoid this." Then I lifted my eyes to hers, "Isn't it?"

Isabella started at that, jumping slightly in her seat as her eyes widened. "But, she… she said… no." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, this had to have been a last minute decision. She would have…"

I snorted hard. "Awe, isn't that cute? You actually think this was spur the moment? You're adorable. I got news for you, Isabella. The four of us have been in Washington for a week." I smirked as I leaned closer to her. "Who do you think it was that sent us?"

Her glare returned and this time was a little more impressive than the last attempt. "She would have said something."

With the conviction in her voice, I almost felt bad as I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket, pulled out a folded piece of paper and tossed it to her. "Then why didn't she?"

Her fingers trembled as she picked up the credit card receipt from a bar we went to five days ago. Her eyes flooded with tears when she unfolded it and she saw that I wasn't lying. That didn't stop her from trying to defend the little irritation once again, however. "This is fake; it has to be."

I pursed my lips and nodded once. "Yeah, that makes total sense. You are worth so much effort for us to lie to, that hours were spent making a fake bar tab. Or, here's a crazy idea. We like to drink." I reached across the space and plucked the receipt from her fingers. "Such an odd concept, I know. Your little vampires keeping you in the dark and us doing horrible things. What is this strange world coming to?"

She sniffled this time. "She would have."

I just sighed and looked back at my book. "It really doesn't matter what you believe. If it makes you feel better to live in a fantasy world where vampires live on the blood of animals and actually care about humanity, then so be it. Just do not get pissed off at us when the blinders you wear get ripped off and you see things as they really are."

"What does that mean?"

I growled and shook my head. "Humans." Dropping my book back to my lap, I locked eyes with her. "If you want to act dumb, be my guest, but do not think to call my fucking intelligence into question. I know you are not this stupid. You might be able to play the dumb human with the Cullens and act like you don't have a brain, but that shit is not going to fly here. You know good and damn well what I mean. You know what is going to happen when we arrive in Italy so do not act like you don't."

She looked out the window. "I'm going to die, right?"

I picked my book back up to hide my smirk. "Of course, in a matter of speaking anyway."

Over the top of my book I saw her cross her arms, seeming to fold into herself. She made a noise between a soft chuckle and a huff. "Changed, I'm going to be changed."

I brought my wine glass to my lips and spoke around the rim. "I knew you were smarter than you were acting."

She glared at me again. "You're still a jerk."

I hummed as I swallowed the mouthful of wine. "I would get used to that. After two thousand plus years, that's probably not going to change any time soon, Gatáki."

Her head shook, "What do you keep calling me?"

I tilted my head to the side slightly, "If I thought for even a moment you would believe me, I would answer that. Since I know you will not" I grinned at her, "look it up."

Her lips thinned and she turned to look back out the window. "Jerk."

I finished my glass of wine and stood up to go get a refill. Leaning over and placing my hands on the armrests of her seat, I dipped my head and whispered in her ear. "Previous statement stands."

*X*

The rest of the flight was uneventful. We landed at our private airstrip without mishap and slightly ahead of schedule for once. The problem came when it was time to make the last leg of the journey to the city. To give credit, Isabella certainly tried to save her ass, something that I honestly didn't think she had the balls to do.

In the end, it cost us a twenty minute delay and five humans their lives.

I had her pressed against a wall, holding her hands above her head and staring her dead in the eyes. "How much blood are you going to spill while trying to escape your fate? And for some reason you are curious as to why the Masters don't trust you to keep your fucking mouth shut for another two months. Two minutes around humans and you shout to the heavens about the existence of vampires. I am actually quite curious if there are not more humans back across the ocean that know our secret. Perhaps we should send a mass of guards and just level your entire town, just to be sure. What do you think of that?"

Her face was defiant. "You were going to kill them anyway."

I snorted. "Those humans have been our hanger attendants for the last five years. No matter what you precious Cullens have told you about us, we do not kill anyone that does not deserve to die or that does not know our secret. I told you months ago to not believe everything you hear and I fucking meant it. No matter how you spin this, those humans' deaths are YOUR fault, not ours."

"I don't believe liars."

I got nose to nose with her as I felt my eyes go black and took a sick and twisted pleasure when her eyes sparked with fear. No one calls me a liar. "I am a monster, a cold-hearted bastard, an asshole and a fucking prick but I am not a liar. I don't rightly give a fuck if you believe me or not, but do not make the mistake of confusing me with your mind-reader. Lying is a pointless venture and does nothing but lull the feeble minded into a false sense of security. Tell me, do you feel safe right now? Do you think I won't kill you right this second and never think of you again? The fear that you reek of tells me you know that I have no qualms of ending your existence right now. THAT is truth. That is the cold, hard truth. You are a human. You are dinner, that's it. A fake-ass vampire that wants to play house? THAT is a lie."

Her face hardened a little, but any fire she tried to show was extinguished by the tears that flowed down her cheeks. "You won't kill me."

I chuckled deep in my throat, my teeth showing as I smirked at her. "Keep telling yourself that. In two hours, that is exactly what I am going to do because I wasn't lying four months ago when I told you, you will be mine." Her eyes widened to owlish size as I chuckled again. "Your little fortune teller keeping her mouth shut make more sense to you now, Gatáki?"

She swallowed hard and shook her head. "No."

I tisked lightly as I hummed. "Don't worry. That, and so many other things will soon enough. Of that, I give you my word. For now, if you want the answers to the questions that swirl in your eyes, you should really consider behaving. I would really hate to do it now, but I will bite you where you stand if you leave me no option. So, what is it going to be?" When she nodded slightly, I purred. "Good girl."

Releasing her wrists, I stepped to the side and held out a hand, telling her to go ahead. Walking next to her, I caught my car keys when Felix tossed them to me. Giving a look around the hanger, I shook my head. It was a mess. When I cocked my brow at Felix, he answered my unasked question.

"Go, we got this."

I nodded as I opened the passenger door, waiting for Isabella to get in before I shut it and walked at a human pace to the driver's side. I was in no real hurry to get back to the city and I didn't have to stop to feed since her little stunt provided me with a snack. Once I got in the car, I took advantage of the overcast and put the top down, glancing over at Isabella as I started the car.

"Buckle up."

*X*

Forty-five minutes later the city came into view and that was when Isabella started to fidget. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye but said nothing as I pressed harder on the gas, wanting to finish the last ten minutes of the drive. What I couldn't believe was that she spent the last near hour sitting strapped in a car next to someone that threatened to kill her, told her he WAS going to kill her, and she doesn't bat an eye until she sees a city.

This was one strange little human.

It was when we started the climb up the hill to the gates she finally spoke. "So, what's going to happen once we get there? Ya know, besides the obvious?"

I shrugged slightly as I started to downshift. "That's about it. You'll be presented to the Masters, have to listen to Master Caius pitch a fit about you still being a human, listen to Master Aro tell of his disappointment in the Cullens and you for not following his ruling. There will more than likely be an argument between the two over what your ultimate fate will be." I turned to her with a grin as I slowed the car more. "Whatever you do, do not laugh."

Her lip curled. "Why would I do…"

I cut her off as I slowed to a stop at the gates. "You'll see." After flashing my freshly fed eyes to the gate keeper, I continued into the city, finishing my thoughts. "Master Caius will argue with Master Aro simply for the sake of riling him up, regardless if he actually cares enough to fight about whatever it is. Both Master Caius and Master Marcus know that Master Aro gets final say in everything. That, however, will never stop Master Caius from poking him with a stick."

Her face took on a look of confusion as I leaned over her to get the opener to the garage door out of the glove box. "Why, exactly?"

Pushing the button to open the door I just reached, I hummed as I waited for it to open. "Master Caius is younger than both Master Aro and Master Marcus by no small number of centuries. He was also bitten at a much younger human age than either of them. He was in his early twenties whereas Master Aro was in his later thirties and Master Marcus was, I believe, closer to his fifties." Pulling into the garage, I turned to her with a smirk. "He is the youngest and he acts like it. Master Aro is the oldest and as such, gets the full brunt of Master Caius' youthful wrath."

As I pulled my car into its stop, Isabella cocked her head. "You said that Marcus was the oldest."

I nodded as I pushed the button to put the top of my car back up. "In human years, yes, he is. However, Master Aro is the oldest in vampire years and in our world, that's the age that matters." Latching the top and cutting the engine, I looked over at her. "Master Aro is Master Marcus' sire, the one that made him. For that reason alone Master Aro outranks Master Marcus."

She nodded as she undid her belt. "So, Aro is the sire of Marcus and Caius?"

I shook my head and got out of the car. "No." Closing my door and walking around to open hers, I continued. "There are only three vampires that know who Master Caius' sire is; Master Aro, Master Caius and Master Caius' sire and no one is telling." I hummed as I shut the door once she was out. "Then again, unless you are a newborn or turned for the purpose of being a mate, your sire doesn't really matter after the first year or so. As far as the hierarchy within this coven goes, it was already an established coven when Master Caius joined it. The only way he would have been able to outrank Master Aro, who was already the coven leader, would have been to force his submission though some very… hmm… barbaric, for lack a of better term, means."

She seemed to pale as her brow drew down and her bottom lip slid between her teeth. She swallowed hard and crossed her arms. "Do I even what to know?"

I shook my head as I held a hand out to the side, telling her we were moving. "Probably not. However, no matter what you think of our world, no matter what you were led to believe by the Cullens, vampires are not, in any way, civilized beings." Leaving the garage and entering the hallway, I clasped my hands behind my back as I led her to the main gathering room. "We are driven by three basic instincts; survival, feeding and mating. That's it. That's all we care about. Seeing the next night of our lives, our next meal and our next lay. Everything else is secondary to those. We don't care about what happens to others of our kind so long as we, personally, survive."

She made an indignant noise and I knew what was coming. "But, the Cullens care about each other. I've seen it."

I looked down at her and cocked a brow. "Back to them, hmm. Very well. Allow me to explain this to you, Gatáki. The Cullens are no different than we are. The only difference between us is our diet. The guard will also look out for others that wear the crest, but when push comes to shove, we will save ourselves, as will they. The only person we will lay our life down for is our mate."

She bit her lip a little as she looked up at me, curiosity shining in her eyes. "So, you wouldn't die for Aro?"

I snorted. "Fuck no. He knows it too. There are maybe three vampires within these walls that would, and even then it's a flip of a coin. I have no true ties to anyone here. I have a very select few that I would consider a friend, but for the most part, the palace and everyone in it could burn today and I wouldn't shed a non-existent tear for them."

"Not even your sire?"

I chuckled slightly. "Even were I not far too old to give a fuck about my sire, he isn't here anyways. My connection to him died out centuries ago. I told you, our sire only matters for the first year or so, unless our change is for mating purposes, and I am far older than a scant couple of years.

It was that point that we reached the more populated section of the palace. There were quite a few lesser guards milling about, all of whom seem far too interested in my human for my tastes. It also set her on edge. So much so that she latched onto my arm and pressed herself into my side. I glanced down at her with a cocked brow, but said nothing, only changed how my arm was positioned so that my forearm was in front of me opposed to behind me. My reason for that was it would make it easier to move her behind me should it become necessary to do so.

I doubted anyone wanted to face off with the head of the guard, but there are always idiots that came out of the woodwork to surprise you with their level of stupid. It wasn't even one of the younger vampires that did it either. He was a new guard that I had only seen a handful of times, but he was old enough to know better than to try and take on a superior fighter.

With a smooth swing of my arm, I wrapped it around Isabella's waist, sliding her behind me. Holding her directly to my back, I narrowed my eyes, teeth baring slightly as a deep growl sounded from my chest. It was a very clear warning to stay away, and one he didn't heed.

Fair enough.

Turning to the side so that Isabella had her back to the wall, I whirled back, catching the other guard by the throat. His momentum kicked his feet up in front of him and I used it against him, pushing down and slamming him against the stone floor. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, I hosted him back up and slammed him then in the wall. Holding him there, I turned to look at Isabella, making sure she was alright. Once I was positive she was nothing other than a little scared, I turned back to the guard.

Locking my black eyes on his now terrified red ones, I growled low in my chest. "The human is mine. Come near her again and I will kill you. That is, unless she wants your head now." Looking over at her, "Gatáki?"

Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as her head shook back in forth in earnest. "No, that's alright."

I pressed my lips together and hummed. "Pity." Looking back at the vampire in my grasp, I snapped my teeth at his nose and growled as I spoke again. "Run." After I let him go, I watched as he tucked tail and darted down the hall as I pulled at the cuffs of my jacket, fixing my shirt that had gotten pulled up in the quick movements. Not looking away from the corner that the guard vanished around, I spoke to Isabella as I fixed my other sleeve. "I understand you are human. However, you will need to get over your strange aversion to killing, Gatáki. If you do not kill them," Now I looked over my shoulder at the human who hadn't moved. "They will kill you."

After pulling down on my vest, I once again presented her my arm that she took after a moment of hesitation. She walked silently next to me for a minute before she looked up at me. "Would you really have killed him? Just like that had I said yes?"

I didn't even look at her as I nodded. "Without thought. My role here is not to baby the lesser guards. If they fuck up and do something as stupid as what that one just did, Master Aro doesn't want them anyways. Stupidity gets you and others killed. He would have deserved it."

"Just for doing what comes naturally for him?"

It was then I looked at her. "What he did wasn't natural, it was stupid. Natural would have been to heed the warning he was given and stayed away from you. He decided to be an idiot and attack someone he knew damn well he wasn't going to beat. I don't hold my position here because of my gift, Gatáki. I have it because I earned it."

Her brow drew down slightly, her face colored in thought. "You're one of the main guards, right?"

I snorted. "I am not one of the main guards. I AM the main guard if that is the title you wish to give it. I am the head of the Elite Guards making me the Head of the entire Guard. Each skill level has their own head, the one in charge of everyone else that falls within their ranks. Every one of them, as well as the other Elites, answers directly to me. The only one that I answer to is Master Aro. If something untold were to ever happen to our Head of Coven, I would be the one to take it over."

For whatever reason, that made her stop in her tracks. Stopping as well, I looked at her with my head tilted to the side as I waited to the explanation for the holdup this time. Her eyes were wide and her confusion was apparent. "You would?" I nodded and her lip curled. "Why not Caius or Marcus?"

My nose wrinkled. "Again, I know you are smarter than you're currently acting. What part of the Guard answers to me did you not understand?"

She shook her head. "No, I got that part. But, I don't understand why one of them wouldn't be the one to take over if something happened to Aro. I mean, they're referred to as Master, which tells me that they rank pretty high up there in the food chain of this place."

I hummed and gave her a nod. "Good point. However, pay attention to how I am referred to by any coven member that is not Jane, Alec or Felix and how the three of them are referred to and you'll get that answer. Hell, even they do it as well when the situation calls for it."

Isabella blinked and her jaw went lax. "They call you Master, too, don't they?"

I nodded to her again. "Uh huh. No one outside the Elite have interaction with the Masters unless I am not here to be a go-between. I oversee their training, see to their feeding. I hand out assignments and patrol schedules. If there are issues between guards or ranks I am the one that deals with it. I am also the one that takes the brunt of the Master's anger and upset if something goes wrong or a mission is a failure."

Her face seemed to take on a slight fall with that. "That doesn't seem fair. Why do you do all that?"

I shrugged and clicked my tongue. "I get paid very well and get to do whatever the fuck I want. Trust me, it's a fair trade."


	3. Chapter 3

**BPOV**

This was so fucked up. This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to be here. I wasn't supposed to be anywhere NEAR here. I was supposed to be getting ready to get married and as much as that sucked, I would rather spend the next two months living at the bridal shop than be walking down the halls of this place again. At least this time I'm above ground, so that's a plus.

It's about the only one.

These vampires still wanted me dead, in some capacity. These vampires were still heartless bastards that killed for stupid reasons. These vampires were still evil and cold and dangerous. Nothing has changed. The only difference between this time and the last time was that I was alone with them.

Where was my rescue party? Where was the love of my life when I needed him? Why was I defended by someone that wasn't Edward? Why wasn't he here to take me away from these things? I did it for him… which is kinda what landed me in this position in the first fucking place.

I shook my head with a sigh, looking down and away from the red eyes that became trained on me at the noise. This was so fucked up. I mean really, walking arm in arm with a human killing machine that has vowed to be the one that ends my life like it was perfectly normal to do so. Maybe I was the one that there was something wrong with and not the situation. I mean, it's not the first time I have landed myself in hot water with red eyed vampires through my own actions. It's not the first time I went willingly to them, or with them as with this particular vampire. I have done it three times now, twice with this guy.

Fuck, I was an idiot.

Figuring we had to be getting close to where we were going, I decided to take one last look around, taking the time to actually take in to the surprisingly beautiful architecture of the building. There was no telling just how old the construction was, but it was done in designs and ways that I knew weren't used for a really long time. There were tapestries hanging from the walls, intermittent indents in the stone that boasted statues or paintings.

I glanced behind me to catch a glimpse of something that caught my eye and my eyes widened. I tightened my grip a little on the arm I was holding and used my free hand to give a slight tug on the jacket that covered it. I cleared my throat and lowered my voice to the point I couldn't even hear myself. "Demetri."

I felt his eyes ghost over me before he snorted. When he spoke, I didn't know the language he used, but I knew it wasn't Italian. "Tha écheis na doulév̱eis. Eísai apó to myaló sas."

I looked up at him, lip curled a little but didn't say anything, just returned my attention to the three vampires that were behind us, one of which I recognized from not that long ago. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip before pulling it between my teeth. I glanced back and forth between Demetri and the other three a few times before I looked up at the only person that stood between me and the black eyes that wouldn't move from my form. "What's going on?"

Demetri never moved his eyes from the three vampires at the end of the hall, just pulled on his arm, telling me to give it back, and turning so I was facing his chest once I let him go. "Your graciousness in sparing his life before was taken as a weakness of mine. It is as I told you; if you do not kill them, they will kill you."

I whimpered a little. "I'm sorry."

He snorted hard and finally looked down at me. "For what? You do not honestly think this is going to be the first fight I have ever gotten in, do you?" He then turned back to the three that hadn't moved. "Shit like this happens all the fucking time."

Before I could ask the question that was burning my tongue at that response, the one that had tried to attack me before snarled, making me jump and step closer into Demetri's personal space. Fuck, what was wrong with me? This guy is going to kill me. I _know_ this guy is going to kill me. Yet, here I am, looking to him to protect me from death?

What the actual fuck?

I glanced up at Demetri just in time to see him cock a brow high on his forehead. He didn't look impressed. If I had to name it, he looked amused. However, if you looked at his eyes, you could clearly tell he wasn't. He was pissed.

What happened next was anyone's guess. I went from standing in the hall to catching myself on the shelf that was in the setback of stone with a grunt. After my balance was caught, I whipped back around, my eyes darting all over the hall trying to see where the vampires were, but all I could see was Demetri's jacket fluttering slowly to the ground a foot from where he shoved me out of harm's way. I couldn't see anything but flashes of bodies, but I could hear every growl, every snarl and every hiss.

There was a gust of wind and I followed it, turning to the left. What I saw in that moment I would never forget, I was positive. Everything moved in slow motion, even to me. Demetri had his forearm in the mouth of the guy from earlier, but it didn't even look like it phased him as he lifted his right leg and kicked a different vampire, the one that I contributed to the reason for the wind, right in the face. The stone shattering sound that bounced off the walls was awe-striking, but to watch as fragments of vampire flesh flew every direction as the head itself snapped back was, in all its morbid glory, mesmerizing. The bits of skin made little tinkering noises as they fell to the floor.

The look on Demetri's face, however, as he glared at the one he just kicked sent chills down my spine. His eyes were jet black, the whites completely gone into narrowed slits. His lips were pulled back from his teeth all the way to the gums and his nose was wrinkled. It was the growl though that had me squeezing inner muscles so I didn't wet myself.

In that moment, seeing him like that, told me that there was not a single lie told to me today. Vampires weren't nice, they weren't civilized. They were monsters, things to be feared. They weren't what I thought they were. They were dangerous and, even though I knew that, I didn't allow myself to see it even when I saw it.

I saw the Cullens train with the wolves. I saw Edward and Seth face Victoria and Riley, but it was nothing like this. It was nowhere near as brutal. It was nowhere near as gruesome. Demetri ripped his arm out the other vampire's mouth and shoved his other fist through it. You could hear teeth snap and shatter, creamy looking blood flying from the hole Demetri left in his wake of attack, staining his pristine white sleeve and odd color of pink.

When he pulled his arm back, he brought bone out with it. Oh, god… is that part if the spine? He just stood there as the body crumbled to the floor, that same growl still vibrating in his chest. His voice was dark, bordering demonic, but it was when I figured out the language he was talking in. He was speaking Greek.

"Dýo, ópou tó̱ra eínai treis?"

I only knew a few words, but I knew the numbers. Best guess, he was talking about two down and one to go, but he said three. Before I could put that together the light seemed to disappear in my little hiding place, drawing my attention from Demetri to right in front of me. My reaction was instant, even before my brain could connect the dots. I let out a shriek that bounced around the hall and left my own ears ringing. I couldn't move. I was frozen in complete terror as I stared into the blood red, narrowed eyes of number three.

My heart stopped in my chest and breath caught in my throat at the sight before my eyes. After all that, after everything I already faced in the world of myth, this was the end of the line. I survived a sadistic nomad that beat the shit out of me. I survived getting bit. I survived my first encounter with the Volturi. I survived a revenge seeking vampire and a newborn army. I survived all of that and now, it was all going to end.

I saw my whole life replay in my mind in a split second when his hand came towards me. I saw growing up in Arizona. I saw all my mother's odd little recreations. I saw her get remarried to Phil. I saw moving to Forks. I saw meeting the Cullens. I saw my adventures with Jake after Edward left. I saw saving Edward's life. My mind came to a screeching halt during my first time here. I saw Edward get his ass kicked. I saw Edward get tortured. I saw us leaving. I saw Demetri and his messages to me before we left to go home. I saw the Cullens and the wolves training to take on Victoria and her newborns. I saw everything between the time I was born to this second and all I could think was 'Well, it has certainly been an interesting life'.

I wasn't sure when my memories became reality, when I stopped seeing the past and was again in the present. I saw the hand that was nearly touching me vanish as a horrific sounding snarl bounced around in my nook. I might have sighed in relief, I might have whimpered in terror. The classification of the noise that came out of me would never be defined by my brain. It was a complete impossibility.

As I stood stone still, my eyes focused on the happenings before me. Demetri was standing behind the vampire, holding him by an arm behind his back and his hair. He yanked the head to the side with enough strength for the skin to make a 'crack' before he brought his exposed teeth down, biting through the marble flesh like a hot knife through melted butter. With a jerk of his hand, the head was removed and thrown away like garbage as Demetri then flung the headless body into the wall across the hall with another snarl.

He didn't even look at me, just whipped around to face the direction that the three vampires had originally come from. I turned to look too, thinking there was more only to sag nearly to my knees when I saw an empty hall. That was, until Demetri roared loud and clear.

"Santiago!"

That time I know I whimpered.

I watched as he ripped his sleeve off, revealing a deep, angry looking bite to his arm as well as a lot more scars that matched my own. Tossing it away from him, he licked his palm and clamped it over the wound. He didn't even flinch when a sizzling sound came from under his hand. He did, however, wrinkle his nose at the sight of the pink stain on his other sleeve.

I blinked at him like he was out of his mind. He was pissed off about a stain and not getting bitten? I just looked down and shook my head. He was an odd one. That was when I saw his jacket was still on the ground where it landed at the beginning of the altercation. Not knowing what else to do, I reached out for it and pulled it to me. When I felt eyes on me, I glanced up, giving Demetri a shrug as I wrapped it over my forearm and stood back up.

He looked about to say something, but before he could, his head snapped back to the end of the hall and his eyes narrowed. "Took you fucking long enough."

I turned to look where he was again and saw a vampire that was probably of Mexican human decent. He stared wide eyed at the mess that Demetri made of the hallway. You could see the spark of fear that lit in his eyes as he looked back at the really pissed off vampire that was glaring at him.

He cleared his throat. "I apologize, Master Demetri. I was otherwise involved when you called."

Demetri growled again. "I don't give a flying fuck if you rip your dick off while masturbating. You come when called or you will lose your ability to move. Am I clear?" When he nodded, Demetri snorted. "These fuck-ups are YOUR responsibility. I do not care what you do with them. Burn them, bury them, put them back together again, I don't care. But if I see them again, it is your ass."

I watched as Santiago looked at the pieces of body parts before he looked up at Demetri again. "But, these are not my men."

A smirk lifted Demetri's mouth. "They are now."

The other vampire stuttered a couple of times, his eyes going wide. "But, but, Master Demet…"

Demetri huffed out a growl and crossed his arms, his spine straightening as he stood to his full height. Holy shit, he was tall. But the noise cut the other guy off. "Are you questioning me, Santiago?"

He was quick to shake his head, taking a step back and holding up his hands. "No, Sir. I'll see to this and let Afton know of the change."

Demetri's eyes narrowed as he shook his head. "No. I will deal with Afton." Then he reached over and grabbed his jacket off my arm before pulling me out of my little nook in the wall and giving me a slight push to start moving in the direction we were heading in prior to all that happened. He started walking next to me, his hand on the small of my back and his jacket draped over his arm. After a few steps, he just called out, though I wasn't positive he was still talking to Santiago. "And I want this mess cleaned up before the Masters see it."

I couldn't bring myself to look back and see what mess he was talking about. There was enough of the last three minutes burned into my memory to know that it was stone skin, broken walls, crushed floor and pools and splatter of vampire blood. I didn't even know vampires HAD blood. I also didn't realize I said that out loud until I heard Demetri chuckle, prompting me to look up at him.

He smirked down at me, his eyes dancing with a dark mirth and sadistic amusement. "Older ones don't. Only newborns do. That was the blood of his last meal." I wrinkled my nose at him and he chuckled again. "Just like your body absorbs what it needs from what you eat, ours does the same. Though there are not a lot of organs that continue to work after the change, the ones that do need blood to do so. Our venom makes it thicker, thus making it last longer. However," He curled his lip and held up his stained sleeve, "It also changes its color." Poking the tip of his tongue out with a slight grunt, he shook his head. "You can tell how recently an injured vampire has fed by the color of pink that comes from the wounds. The darker the pink, the more recently fed."

I didn't have anything to say to that so I just nodded. I was going to ask when we would reach the end of our walk, but I saw his arm twitch a little under his jacket. I bit my lip as I watched for it to happen again. I looked up at him when it did. "Does it hurt?"

He looked confused for a moment until he looked at where I was and it seemed to click. "Oh, getting bit?" When I nodded, he moved his jacket from his forearm to over his shoulder and raised his arm up a little. "Like a mother fucker."

The way the light was hitting it, you could see long cracks in the surface of his arm, spider webbing out from the two half crescents. Over the wounds, you could see a shiny, sorta iridescent sheen from his own venom. In the individual teeth holes there was a dark pink, almost red looking liquid oozing up, but not breaking through the covering. The edges of the holes were singed and burned away so that there wasn't a raise of the mark like I saw on Jasper, but instead it was smoothed down level with the rest of his skin.

I don't know what I was thinking, and chances are I wasn't, but I bit my lip and lifted my hand, running the pad of my fingers over the mark gaining me a growled shrouded hiss. I jerked my arm back, bringing it to my chest and holding it there with the other. I looked up at him with wide eyes and stuttered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt… I mean, it wasn't on purpose. I'm sorry."

The more I talked, the more amused he looked. His lips pressed together in a line to keep from smirking at me. His brow started to rise and his shoulders started to shake a little. When I apologized for the second time, Demetri snorted hard before he actually laughed out loud. It wasn't his normal chuckle or snicker. It was a deep laugh that held a lulling, comforting undertone that made me give a half smile in return.

After a moment, he shook his head, an actual smile on his face when he looked at me again. "It burns a little, but there is no way, on this planet or any other, that your little ass is EVER going to actually hurt me. Bites hurt, they aren't meant to tickle. The introduction of foreign venom is why they hurt, not the mark itself. In fifteen minutes, this will be nothing but a scar. Relax."

When we rounded another corner, I recognized where we were. We were almost there. I looked behind me and saw the doors to the reception room Edward, Alice and I were taken to the last time I was here sending a shudder down my spine. Turning to look forward, I then saw the last turn that separated us from the doors to where my fate resided and would be decided.


	4. Chapter 4

**DPOV**

I knew the moment Isabella figured out where we were. Besides the change in scent, her entire frame seemed to tense up. I didn't say anything to her, though. There was really nothing that I would have been able to that would have settled her down anyways. So, instead I simply led her around the last corner between us and the Gathering Room, a smirk pulling at my lips when I saw one of the servants standing at the door with a new shirt and a different jacket for me draped over her arm.

When we were closer, she dipped her head slightly and presented me my effects. "Master Demetri."

I nodded to her but responded to the sound of confusion that came from my human. Glancing down at her as I reached behind my neck to remove my crest, I grinned. "News travels fast around here." I then held my necklace out to her, "Would you mind?"

She shook her head and took the pendant, looking at it for a second before looking back as I was handing my blue jacket off to Luna. "I would say so."

I just winked at her as I unbuttoned my vest, removing and also handing it off. After taking the scarf from around my neck, I again glanced at Isabella with a snort when she squealed and looked away when I started to take off my ruined shirt. I shook my head and Luna giggled a little, her hand coming up and covering her mouth.

The noise still caught Isabella's attention though.

She looked over at the tiny vampire in front of us, her eyes wide and jaw lax, her head shaking. I just continued to change as Isabella squeaked out. "What's so funny?"

Luna just giggled a little again. "I am sorry, Mistress. I supposed there are vast differences between our kind and yours. Shirtless males are somewhat normal around here. Most of us don't even notice it anymore."

I rolled my eyes when Isabella whimpered a little and tucked in my new black shirt before taking my black, floor length jacket off Luna's arm. "Luna."

Luna smiled at Isabella once more before she turned back to me. "I will see to the cleaning of your vest and cloak, but I am pretty sure your shirt is a lost cause, Master Demetri."

I sighed as I shrugged on my Jacket, tugging it a few times to fix the lapels. "Aren't they always?"

Her face took on a sly little grin. "With you, more so than anyone Master Demetri."

I gave her a flat look, this time speaking with a clear warning in my voice. "Luna."

She cleared her throat and dipped her head. "Apologies. I'll have these sent to your chambers when they are clean."

With that, she dipped her knee and turned, strolling away and leaving me to shake my head. Silly little vampress. When I turned to Isabella to take back my necklace, she had a weird look on her face. "Something the matter, Gatáki?"

She shook her head as she held my crest out to me. "No. She seemed… nice, almost normal."

I hummed as I reclasped my necklace around my neck. "Luna is older than she looks, and acts, for that matter. She has been here for a very long time and has earned her place amongst the staff. She gets away with a lot more than most."

Isabella nodded and crossed her arms. "How long?"

I shrugged. "I have no earthly idea. She's been here longer than I have. Now," I set my hands on the wooden doors and looked down at her, "remember what I said in the car."

Isabella looked at me before turning to the doors, fear clear in her eyes and scent. Still, she nodded her head as she bit her lip. "This is going to be bad, isn't it?"

I snorted. "It will be over before you know it. Just stay quiet unless asked a question." When her brow drew down, I turned to face her, taking her chin between my thumb and forefinger, tilting her head back so she was looking at me. Once I had her attention, I lowered my voice a little. "Nothing untold is going to happen to you, Gatáki. I will not allow it. Besides, your fate has already been decided. This isn't about you; not anymore."

"Then what…"

I cut her off. "Evidentiary purposes and that is all you need to know." Then I shrugged as I let her go. "Besides that, in three days none of this is even going to matter."

She blinked at me. "What does that mean?"

I waved my hand in the air and turned back to the door. "Later. For now, the Masters are waiting."

Before another word was said, I pushed the doors open and took a step to one side, making sure she was visible to the three vampires within the room. Holding my hand to the room, I grinned at her. "After you, Gatáki."

Her heart stuttered for a moment, but she still passed me and walked into the room. I followed after her, a step behind, until we reached the center of the room. She crossed her arms and I clasped my hands behind my back. Her shoulders hunched slightly and I dipped my head. She looked to the floor and I held my head high.

The three masters looked at Isabella for a moment before Master Aro stood from his seat, a truly amused grin on his face as he clasped his hands together.

"Isabella. So nice to see you again… and," he turned to look at Master Caius, " _human_."

Isabella gulped as Master Caius smirked at her before he turned to Aro. "You owe me a thousand dollars."

Master Aro looked at him, one brow slightly raised. "I do not."

And, here we go. I glanced over at Marcus and he was just started shaking his head as Caius and Aro began to bicker over the terms of their wager. When Caius resorted to name calling when it became apparent that Aro wasn't going to pay him, I glanced down at Isabella. Her eyes were wide and her jaw lightly lax as she watched them. She was doing well until Caius called Aro a cum guzzling gutter slut. After that registered with her, I had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep her bark of laughter quiet.

She looked up at me when I did so, her eyes bright and grateful. Her body was trembling and breaths choppy as she tried to get her amusement under control. After a moment or two, she seemed to settle and I removed my hand, winking at her when she nodded in thanks. I returned to my previous position and Isabella went back to waiting.

She wasn't left to wait long. "Human."

Isabella about jumped a mile out of her skin at the tone of his voice. Her back went ram-rod straight and she kinda squeaked. "Yes?"

Caius' smirk grew slightly as he turned to look at her. "I will give you one chance to explain your mortality because, if I remember correctly, you were told to have that fixed."

Isabella bit her lip hard and looked to the floor. "I was told that an invitation was sent to you for Edward and I's wedding in two months. The date for my change was set two days after that." It was then she looked up. "I was also told you got it two weeks ago."

Caius cocked a brow at her but it was Aro that spoke. "Hmm. Now that is interesting. We recently had to replace our last receptionist. Perhaps it was and it was simply misplaced when the new one took over." Then he sighed. "However, regardless of any indication that the order was GOING to be followed, it has yet to be so. You were, very clearly, told not to be seen human again. Yet, here you are, human as ever. You do of course see the problem here, yes?"

Isabella nodded but didn't say anything and Aro turned to me. "Demetri, where is the rest of your team?"

I smirked. "There was a… slight issue upon landing, Master Aro. They stayed behind to deal with it."

He nodded. "I see. Does that then explain your change in wardrobe?" I shook my head and he shrugged. "Well, perhaps the noise from a while ago is now explained. Either way, let's hear your report."

"During our time in the area of the Olympic Coven, we found no evidence of direct knowledge as to what they are. We did, however, find a startling and worrisome amount of rumors and stories about them, some of which are not too far off the mark. Also, there seems to be a den of shifters in the area as well."

Isabella gasped and turned to stare at me as Aro cocked a brow. "Shapeshifters?"

I ignored her and nodded to him. "Wolves."

Aro chuckled at that. "Ah, well, then we have very little to worry about. Those wolves will rip the Coven apart if given the chance."

I grinned a little with a chuckle. "Actually, Master, they seem to be on the same side of things. When we arrived, sadly moments too late to aid in dealing with the newborns we were sent to see to, the shifters had already left, though stayed close enough to interfere with our other job."

At that, Aro sat back down, his face flat and annoyed as he propped his chin in his palm. His voice was flat and hollow when he spoke. "So, you mean to tell me that Carlisle and his little cult followers have not only raised speculation as to their real nature but have also formed an alliance with a pack of Wolf Shape Shifters to aid in their protection. Do I have it about right, Demetri?"

I nodded once. "That is the way I saw it, Master Aro."

Isabella looked back and forth between myself and Aro, her eyes wide and bottom lip trembling. Finally, she shook her head and looked at Aro. "No, that's not what was going on." I looked at her and she had the most pathetic look on her face. When I cocked a brow at her, she shook her head. "Okay, I'll give you that is probably what it looked like, but I swear it wasn't. Jasper told us about newborns, told them that if they weren't stopped they would kill everyone in Forks. They weren't protecting the Cullens, they were protecting everyone else. Trust me, Jacob HATES them. He would never protect them without it being for a really good reason."

Master Aro turned to her with an amused look on his face. "Jacob?"

Isabella's eyes went wider as her jaw completely dropped before she groaned and dropped her face into her hand. "Oh, god damn it."

Aro chuckled deep in his throat. "You really should have just stayed silent, Isabella. Allow me to explain this to you. The Cullen coven has been given chance after chance to follow our laws, of which there are not many nor are they of a high difficulty. Every chance they have been given, they have blown, long before you were ever even ejected from your daddy's dick. Save your theatrics, Stella, because your heroics will not save the coven this time. Perhaps, instead of trying to save the damned, you should refocus your efforts on keeping me from being interested in Jacob."

Isabella whimpered a little, looking at him for a moment before she looked up at me, her eyes begging me to lend a hand. I considered a moment making her face the consequences of opening her mouth when I told her to keep it shut, but the way her eyes were glossing over with tears had me giving her a little glare before turning back to Aro. "Master Aro, if I may." When he looked over at me, I continued. "Reserve judgment on the dogs for the time being. This could have well been a onetime alliance that was forged out of necessity of the current situation and not a permanent one. Wait until you see for yourself which way the coin falls from the Coven. They would be the ones to have the actual answer on just how deep into the comrade the dogs are. Besides, they stink to high fucking heaven and I really don't want to chase them all over that damn peninsula if I do not have to. Once was plenty."

Aro tapped his cheekbone a few times before he sighed. "Very well, Demetri. I let it be for now." Then he glanced at my human. "Consider it a gift." I nodded slightly at that before Aro cocked his head to the side. "The only question left, is what to do with her. Are you still decided?" When I nodded again, Aro sighed and rolled his head on his shoulders and looked at Caius. "Do you have anything to add, Little Brother?"

Caius looked at Aro, a slight sneer on his face before he looked at Isabella. "If you are still completely alive come midnight, I will rip your heart from your chest myself." Then he turned to me, "Are we clear?"

My eyes narrowed and a growl rumbled my chest but I was unable to say anything before Marcus chimed in, too quiet for the human to hear. "Tread lightly, Caius. Threats, no matter how empty they are, are a currently a very, very bad idea."

Caius' eyes shot to Marcus a split second before they returned to me, a brow lifting on his forehead. My growl hadn't the chance to cut off so it was in my voice when I answered. "Crystal, Boreíte Gami̱méno Tsimpí̱ste." The Greek language isn't so pointless to know now, is it? Have fun translating that, you son of a bitch.

Caius narrowed his eyes at me and Aro shot out of his seat. Only one of the two of them had any idea what I just said and he didn't have a firm enough grasp of my native tongue to know exactly what it was. "I believe we're done here, Demetri. You two are free to go."

I snorted but dipped my head and turned to the side. "Gatáki." She looked back and forth between myself and the masters a few times before following after me, asking in a hushed tone what it was I said as the same time Caius asked Aro. I smirked down at my human and chuckled, answering her the same way Aro answered Caius. "It's not important."

We left the main hall and I pulled the doors closed behind us, cutting off Caius' complaints. I did hear him call me an asshole though and I just shrugged it off. It wasn't the first time, nor was it going to be the last, so it didn't really matter. I cussed him out all the time in my native tongue and the stupid bastard still didn't want to take the time to learn what I was saying. I've been doing it for over a thousand years and he wouldn't take a weekend to learn the language. So really, it was his own fault.

When we got what she deemed enough distance between us and the main hall, Isabella looked up at me. "So, you know Greek?"

I chuckled and nodded. "I am of Greek human decent, so yes, I know Greek." Grinning down at her, "How did you know what language that was? Not many other than my Countrymen know it these days."

She scratched her temple. "I know the numbers. I figured it out during the… when you…uh." I clicked my tongue with a hum, telling her I knew what she was talking about, and she bit her lip before clearing her throat. "So, what did you say to him?"

I debated for a moment on answering that before I just shrugged. "I called him a fucking prick." She seemed to choke on her tongue at that and I just shrugged again, my voice flat. "What? He was being a prick. How is it my fault I happen to know a language he deems unnecessary to know?"

There was a snort behind us before Felix's booming laughter rang out in the halls. Isabella, who hadn't heard him come up behind us, shrieked like a banshee before latching onto my arm and twisting around, hiding in front of my chest from the monster behind us. I looked down at her with a cocked brow but said nothing to her. After the last time a vampire snuck up behind us, she got the scare of her human life.

I just chuckled lightly. "Relax, Gatáki." Glaring over my shoulder, "It is only Felix." Well, the identification didn't seem to help if her whimper was anything to by. Marvelous. When he was mostly caught up, I snorted. "How does someone as monstrous as you make no noise when moving about? I swear will start calling you 'twinkle toes'."

He grinned when he came to stand by us on the opposite side that my human was taking refuge. "Awe, come on, man. Gotta give the little human one last good scare before she can hear a pin drop a mile away." I snorted, he chuckled and crossed his arms as we started walking again. "So, Master Caius getting under your skin again, Dem?"

My lip curled in the corner. "Gee, how'd you guess?"

He shrugged. "Call it vampire intuition."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a flat look. "How about I call you an idiot?" He scoffed and I spoke before he could. "Besides, you missed her last scare by about twenty minutes. Speaking of, do me a favor and let Afton know that I want to see him it the training field in four days."

A rumbling chuckle came from his chest and his shoulders shook. "Uh oh. What did he do?"

I cocked my head slightly. "It wasn't him so much as his underlings. If he will not control his little bastards, I will find someone else that can. I have maimed, if not killed, three of his squad today and I am going to beat the shit out of him when next I see him."

He hummed in his throat as he moved his arms to clasp his hands behind his back. "Or, you can sic the soon to be newborn on him." Then he leaned forward and grinned at Isabella. "You are a lot shorter than I remember."

She whimpered again and slid slightly behind my arm. "You're not."

He snorted and shook his head before speeding up a little, getting in front of us and turning to walk backwards. "Unlike you, there was no chance I could have grown. Maybe the difference is you standing next to a full grown man and not an eternal child that just thinks he's one. Either way, if Demetri grants you a last meal, you should get this thing called a "Sinlate'. I have no idea what the fuck it is, but the humans around here rave about it." I grunted a little groan and shook my head and Isabella made some sort of noise the caused Felix to snicker. "Well, you two have fun and I'll see you in a few days. I got the southwest tower to keep an eye on."

I blinked at him. "No, you don't."

He shrugged. "That little pest Santiago came crying to Jane, Alec and I the second we walking through the door, begging one of us to take over the watch because he had 'different orders'. Well, that makes a little more sense now. Anyways, after Alec told him to go fuck himself and Jane punched him in the stomach, I took pity on the bastard since there is nothing going on around here right now anyways. That, and it kills part of my unused soul to see a man cry. It's just wrong." Then he grinned at Isabella once more. "And, hey, thanks for the snack. I was starving."

She made another unidentifiable noise and I glared at him. "Walk away." He gave a little salute and darted down the opposite hall we were about to take. Stopping in the crossway, I looked after him a moment before I looked down at Isabella. "When you wake up, remind me to have you bring him down a peg or two."


	5. Chapter 5

**DPOV**

Isabella did as well as could be expected as I led her down to the lowest levels of the palace. It wasn't until we got to the very bottom of the stairs that she clammed up and her muscles clenched. I stopped to grab a torch off the wall, reaching into my inner jacket pocket for my zippo. Before I lit it, she gulped loud.

"I thought fire was dangerous for vampires."

I nodded as I flicked the top, igniting the flint and held the flame to the tip of the torch. "Deadly in fact. However, any vampire worth a damn can put themselves out as long as they are capable of moving." Then I flashed her a dark grin. "I hear tale that it is extremely painful and torturous to be lit on fire and then be put out. Our bodies can compensate for a lot, but once we lose skin, we can never get it back. Can you just imagine what it would be like to live for eternity with burnt and singed flesh, knowing that the exposed nerves and muscles will never again be covered and hidden from the elements and attack?"

She covered her mouth, a whimpered and choked 'Oh, God' slipping past her lips. I just grinned wider and pushed open the door that separated us from her death.

"God can't help you here. We're too close to Hell." I held the fire lit torch into the pitch black hall. "After you, Gatáki."

She licked her lips and looked into the darkness before her. She hesitated for a moment before taking that first tentative step into the hall. She paused and looked up at me for a moment, her eyes speaking volumes and words she wouldn't say. She didn't want to go, she was petrified. I just cocked a brow at her, nodding my head to the side indicating for her to go ahead.

Nothing was going to happen to her, not while I was right here. There was no one anywhere near us, everyone too afraid to get within two floors of a male about to bite his mate. She could stall all she wanted. It was going to happen no matter how long she took to reach our destination.

Progress was slow, something that was certainly understandable. There are not too many living vampires that had prior knowledge about was going to happen to them in their final human moments. I didn't. My change was a blind side, a sneak attack by my sire over two thousand years ago. I couldn't imagine knowing what was occurring until it was too late to do anything. Then again, not like a human stood a snowball's chance in hell of stopping a vampire that got it in their head that the human was going to die, either by being that night's dinner, coven member or mate.

If you found yourself in a vampire's sight, you were fucked.

It took ten minutes to make it twenty feet. I actually expected either some kind of fight or a longer time frame. However, when you know your fate has come to claim you, when you have reached the end of your path in life and destiny is staring you in the face, even the youngest of humans know that resistance is futile. She knew months ago that this was just as possible of a place for her life to end as anywhere else in the world. It was her own choice to go against the laws she willing bound herself to by involving herself in our world. It was time to pay the piper, to face the consequences of her choices.

And she wouldn't remember a single one of them. I would be seeing to that personally.

She stopped and looked up at me when I cleared my throat. I just looked at her a moment before I set my hand on the door to her deathbed. When I pushed it open, she nodded to me, stepping inside the completely dark room. There were no lights, no windows. Only the torch in my hand, that gave off very little light, lit the entryway. I reclosed the door behind us and looked at her when she made a noise in the back of her throat.

Snorting slightly, I leapt up to the ceiling of the room, grabbing a protruding rock to keep myself there. I looked back down to the floor, seeing her looking up at me, her bottom lip between her teeth and curiosity in her eyes.

"Can I ask you something?"

I hummed in my throat as I set the lit end of the torch into a groove in the rocks around the top of the room, lighting the fuel that was inside. I followed the tail of fire as it ran the perimeter of the room, making sure it went all the way around before I nodded to her question. "You can ask whatever you want." Then I dropped to the ground, tossing the torch into a puddle of water against a wall where it fizzled out. "But the answer isn't going to matter in three days."

Her brow drew down and she blinked once. "That's the second time you said something like that. What do you mean?"

I stepped around her and shrugged out of my jacket, folding it into a square and setting it on one end of the concrete pry in the center of the room. Turning back and leaning against the edge, I crossed my arms and ankles. "It means that when you wake up in three days, whatever I say now, you're not even going to remember. So the Q and A is a little pointless."

She grunted lightly. "But, I thought that vampires retained something of their human lives if they thought about them."

I clicked my tongue and nodded once. "True. For once the Cullens told you the truth. However," I pushed myself to stand and slowly walked over to her. "While that can happen on occasion, that isn't going to be the case with you. You will barely even remember you WERE human."

She looked up at me with eyes full of confusion. "How do you know?"

As I came to stand right in front of her, I grinned and chuckled. "Call it vampire intuition. When next your eyes open, you will only remember two things." I slid around and stood behind her, whispering in one ear, "The first is my name is Demetri." Grabbing her hair and moving it out of the way of her neck, I whispered in the other, "The other is you belong to me."

With that, I sank my teeth into her neck, lodging whatever response she might have said in her throat.

 **BPOV**

 _He whispered in my ear. "The first is my name is Demetri." I felt my hair leave my neck on the other side before his icy breath caressed my skin as he whispered in the other. "The other is you belong to me."_

I couldn't even form a response before it felt like little knives sliced into my neck. My eyes went wide and I gagged on my tongue, my knees buckling under the unexpected pain. The scream that wanted to escape was caught behind his teeth as he caught me around the waist to keep me on my feet.

I could feel Demetri swallow against my shoulder, my heart stalling with every new mouthful of blood he pulled from my body. I counted three before the world began to spin and tilt, dim to dull colors and fuzz around the edges. Still, he took more. I wasn't sure he was going to stop and I wasn't opposed to that happening. The more he took, the colder I began to feel. I could feel my heart slowing with so little blood left to push through my veins.

It was just when I thought that I was going to freeze to death, it seemed fire erupted in my veins. It wasn't a slow moving acid like it was last time. It was like every nerve I had was set alight at the same time. White noise thundered in my ears drowning out everything else. I don't even know if I screamed or not. It felt like I did, but I will never know if it made the escape past the teeth that were still in my neck.

It could have been seconds, it could have been hours. I didn't know. But finally I felt the ease of pressure on my neck leading me to assume I was finally released of his teeth. There was a low, quiet growl right next to my ear, barely breaking through the deafening buzz.

It wasn't the same dark and menacing one that I had come to know. It was more of a purr but one that would come from lion or tiger opposed to a house cat. I felt my knees bend and my feet leave the ground. The movement was agonizing but what was worse was when the only reprieve I had left, the coolness of his chest vanishing leaving me to feel the burn everywhere now.

I didn't know what he was doing, or how much time had passed, before I felt something cool and hard first against my butt and feet before it was expanded to my back and legs. When the back of my head was placed on something soft, I knew where I was. He put me on the concrete table that was in the room, allowing me to use his jacket as a pillow.

I will blame the pain for this, but when I felt the material under my head, my mind leapt at the opportunity to remind me what it looked like, and also, what he looked like in it. Fucking traitor. It was more of a cape with sleeves than it was a jacket. There was no way it was ever going to close in front of his chest. It was long, just like the blue one he wore before the altercation with the three vampires, but it was longer than that. When he wore it, the bottom of it drug the ground, trailing behind him a couple of inches. I would have said it was too big for him, but with the way it was perfectly tailored to his arms, I knew it wasn't.

It was pitch, jet black setting off his pale skin and making the red of his eyes stand out even more than they already did, to the point they nearly glowed. The lapels on the front each boasted a strange variation of the Volturi Crest in crimson red stitching. It also had a hood, but I am pretty sure that's standard issue. It looked like it was made of canvas, but it was softer and smoother to the touch than that.

It was nothing but a flash of a picture before my mind's eye, but the details stuck out enough to see the defined muscles of his arms through the sleeves. I hated that I noticed that, but come the fuck on. Vampires are hot, whether you want to them to be or not, and he was no exception.

The image was gone nearly as soon as it showed up, leaving me in complete darkness for a moment, or an hour, I don't know. But it was interrupted by the feeling of ice cool bliss setting on the side of my face. I forced my eyes to open to see what it was and came face to face with the little bastard himself.

His red eyes, a far deeper red than they were the last time I saw them since he just fed, were right in front of mine, different emotions that I wasn't able to name burning in the bloody depths. The coolness on my face turned out to be the backs of his fingers as they gently caressed my cheek. I saw his lips moving, his voice soft and soothing as it broke its way through the white noise again.

"Burn for your sins you will never atone for. Wade the fires of hell and earn your eternity." Then his eyes seemed to soften, taking on a look of real and true remorse. "This is going to hurt; horrifically. You have never known pain like this before. But, on my life, you will never know it again. The only way anyone will so much a touch you after this, is over my ashes."

Well, this certainly doesn't sound pleasant. I've been bitten before. I know how bad this shit hurts. Or, I thought I did. God damn this is so much worse than the last time. I wanted to know how long this was going to last, how much time had passed because it has to be at least half over by now. If there was a way to find out, a way to get the words out, I would never get the chance to test any theory I came up with.

It was instant, out of left fucking field. Between my eyes erupted the most god awful, stabbing, burning, agonizing pain to ever be bestowed on a human. If I was able to avoid screaming before this, that shit went out the window. I was willing to bet the Cullens heard the scream that ripped from the bottom of my darkening soul as my hands flew up to my forehead, the heals of my palms pushing into my eyes as my back arched off the table I was on. Seems the little bastard told the truth yet again.

I really had never felt pain like this before and I was even willing to open up to the idea of taking him up on his offer to keep it from happening again.


	6. Chapter 6

**DPOV**

I knew the change hurt, I had been there before. I expected Isabella to scream, everyone does. I didn't, however, expect the ear shattering one that she let out three minutes in. That shriek hurt my ears to the point I actually lost my vision for a moment as I whirled away from her, covering my abused ear with one hand, a growl sounding from my throat.

"Fuck me." I grunted as I glared over my shoulder at the changing human. "And now, we are even. Ow."

Rubbing my ear that was going to ring for a week, I watched as she arched up, yet curled into a ball at the same time. My brow cocked and the corner of my lip curled. "Well, that's different." Narrowing my eyes, I walked back to the altar, standing at Isabella's head. I took a moment to gently remove her fingers from her hair before she ripped it out and instead gave her my hands, lacing my fingers with hers. My skin gave no give, which gave her something to squeeze and make her think that she was doing something to ease the pain.

When I bit her, I took so much of her blood that when I injected my venom, there was more of one than the other. There was so much more venom than blood currently running through her veins that I wasn't even surprised that it had already reached her brain. It wouldn't speed up the process and anyone that thought otherwise was an idiot. There was nothing that was going to make this go faster. No matter how much venom is used, it still had the same amount of jobs to do. No, the point of overflowing her blood was for scent purposes. The more blood you have, the more you retain your human scent. Unless you were right upon her, all you were going to smell was me.

I winced with a growl when she screamed again, but I didn't move away. There was something wrong and I wasn't moving until I figured out what it was. Another two minutes and she started to sweat. I was also prepared for the banshee mating calls so they didn't blind me again. However, it was then that the reason for the overload of pain on her part became apparent.

I smelled it before I saw it. There was a metallic tint to the air that really had no place in the area. I sniffed at the air a couple of times before I glanced back at Isabella, brow cocked at what I saw. The sweat that beaded her brow wasn't clear. I clicked my tongue and cocked my head. "Now, that's interesting."

She had a metal plate in her skull. Oh, Christ. A stab of sympathy shot down my spine as another scream ripped from her lips as the venom continued to melt and remove the unneeded foreign debris from her body. The liquid metal continued to bubble out of the pores on her forehead at her hairline, beading like thick sweat until it gained the weight needed to slide down her temples, the heat of it leaving angry red lines in its wake. The scent of the fine hairs on her skin as they burned away made my stomach roll slightly, but it was like a train wreck. You couldn't look away if you wanted to.

I hummed in my throat when I moved my eyes from the drops of melted metal as it sizzled on the concrete next to her face. "So much about you now makes sense. Why Master Aro couldn't read you. Why Jane couldn't burn you." I snorted softly with a quiet chuckle. "Why you seemed a blank slate." Pulling one hand free, I followed her hairline with the tip of a finger. "You were hiding, and didn't even know it."

When I removed my finger from her skin, her eyes opened, bloodshot and full of pain. The moment they locked on mine, I felt the same spark in the base of my skull I always do when making eye contact with someone new. Ghostly fingertips tapped at my brain as they always did, hitting the same points from stem to eyes. When I was younger, that shit used to hurt something fierce. Now, it just kinda tickled. I closed my eyes as the feeling receded, locking them back on hers with a smirk when I opened them again. "There you are. Any chance you might have had before, is gone now. You'll never be able to hide again." I lowered my head, putting my lips next to her ear, "I will always find you."

Pulling back, I looked into her eyes, seeing a wide range of emotions flooding her tear filled orbs. She was torn between wanting to tell me to fuck off and begging me to make this end. Sadly for her, neither one was going to happen.

My eyes softened again as I clicked my tongue. "Now, don't look at me like that, Gatáki. This was what this was going to feel like regardless of who did the biting. Besides, the fun hasn't even started yet. Well, fun for me, not so much for you. I am going to let you in on a little secret." I pulled my hands free of hers and folded one above her head, leaning on the elbow on the other and set my chin on the back of my fingers. "Before, when I said you would only remember two things, that you wouldn't remember even being human; you recall that, yes?"

She just kept staring at me, so I just kept talking. "It's because, over the next seventy one hours and fifty minutes, I am going to override your entire memory, erase it from your reach." Her eyes filled with disbelief, the tears that had threatened to fall finally breaking free. Moving the hand I was leaning on, I wiped one away, humming with a small smirk. "No matter how much you don't want to believe it, no matter how you try and fight it, there is nothing you can do about it. There is no stopping it. I will not have my mate thinking such nonsense as eating animals and compassion for our natural food source. No, my mate will know not only a vampire's true place, but hers as well."

 **BPOV**

Mate; his mate. I knew what he meant when he told me I was his, but some part of me refused to believe it. How could I be his mate when I was Edward's? How could I have any feelings for anyone like him? I have seen the love and passion between mated vampires. I have seen how much they care about each other. How could there ever be a possibility before hell froze over that I would have that with a monster like him?

Was this another thing that was different between animal drinkers and human drinkers? Or was this a difference between the Cullens and the Volturi. I knew that James and Victoria were mates and they didn't seem to be all lovey dovey either.

I continued to stare into Demetri's eyes, my body spazzing as I gagged and choked on my breath. They were soft and held different emotions that I hadn't seen a lot of since I was taken from Forks yesterday. His words were cruel but his voice was gentle, a soothing tenor that lulled me into a sense of calm that was different than when Edward did something like it. It didn't feel like I was bending to his will against my own. It didn't feel as though I was sinking into a fog and drowning in his eyes. Good, bad or annoying, it was different.

I closed my eyes to block out the sight, but it did nothing to block out the image.

He stayed silent for a time, though how much I was uncertain. It might have just seemed like he left me alone to burn in agony. I'll never know. When he did start talking again, his voice was a light whisper in my ear, his breath sending a cooling wind against my neck with every word spoken. There was no undertone of amusement that was there most of the time he talked to me today. There was no harsh or mean dialogue that made my heart clench in pain or condescending note that made me question my own thoughts. There was no jab at my choice of running with vampires. There was just a soothing voice that whispered words of the past, bringing the visuals with them as memories were described and relived in my mind.

At first they were only a little different than what I remembered them being, little details that differed from what I recalled. It didn't seem too big of a deal. Everyone remembers things differently and when comparing a human's memory to a vampire's, I took his word for it.

The first to be described was my first time here, our first meeting in the alley after I saved Edward. Then the Throne Room where Felix beat the fuck out of Edward. After that was the clearing in Forks after the fight with the newborns. Then the plane. I figured after that he would go on to the car ride and the fight in the hall, but he didn't. He started over back in the alley.

Over and over these memories were retold and every time something small changed. But it wasn't the memories I had that played, it was what he was describing. I don't know how many times he repeated these times, but after a while, I wasn't sure what was real and what was not. Still, he continued to focus on those specific memories. So many times I relived those moments that after a while, I gave up trying to remember the real and gave into the words that caressed and seeped into my mind.

Still he chose to only describe those. I could no longer recall what really happened. I couldn't even find it in me to care to do so. More details were added, a clear picture of the happenings laid out before my mind's eye. Once again he started over, those four encounters told to me in a way, in a voice of such conviction that it was the only thing that mattered. I submerged myself in the voice, taking it in and living what it said. The scenes were perfect, missing nothing of importance or care.

The only thing that mattered was Demetri was there.

Once more the cycle started over and I heard myself whimper loud and clear when the scene was different than before. He wasn't there. He was gone. The feeling of loss and heartbreak over his absence near crippling. This wasn't right. My eyes searched the memory as it played again and he was gone, just vanished into thin air and replaced with someone that wasn't even a considerable substitute. He was too short and his eyes were wrong. This was wrong. That wasn't Demetri and I didn't like it.

All four were the same. Demetri was replaced with the imposter and every second that passed I felt myself sink into a pit of despair. Hearing Gatáki falling from the lips of anyone else slashed at me, leaving deep scars and bleeding wounds. This guy, whoever it was, would never be him, would never take his place.

The fire that I had felt before, that had died out to the sound of the voice was back, tenfold worse than it was. It consumed my every molecule, my every cell feeling the burn of loss and desperation for reality; for Demetri. My soul cried out for a reprieve of this lie, for the truth to be back and set me free of this cage of all consuming anguish.

I was left alone then. Left to live this horror as many times as my mind could torture me with. Ten times I saw it and every time was worse than the last. It was the most painful thing that I have ever been forced to do. I didn't know who to beg to make it quit, what God or deity I pissed off so much that I deserved to be put through this but I would beg on hands and knees for eternity for it to end. I was screaming, crying and begging for this lie to be stopped, for reality to win and return. I wanted, needed it to happen before I lost all hope of ever being sane again.

A cool burn ignited on my cheek and my eyes flew open at the contact. They darted every which way, looking for the reason and I have never felt relief like I did in that moment before in my life. He was blurry and distorted, but I would know those eyes anywhere. He didn't leave, he was still here. The haunting torture of my mind was nothing but lies to drive me mad. Orbs of liquid crimson gazed back at me, filling me with the knowledge that Demetri was with me at this moment and that was all that mattered. The lies my mind created were just that; lies. He wasn't gone, didn't vanish. He wasn't replaced with a piss poor substitute that meant nothing.

I turned to lean harder against his palm as his thumb lightly ran my cheek bone, letting out a sigh of relief and let my eyes reclose. I relaxed as much as I could, safe in the knowledge that Demetri was there with me and that he would never allow whoever that was to take his place.

It was like my mind needed the assurance that he was real. When again I ran my memories through my mind, they were back as they should be. There was no coppered hair imposter. There was no odd colored eyes looking at me with emotions that has no business there. I was once again in the arms of the one I wanted to be wrapped in. It was perfect.

As I was once again submerged in my mind, the soothing voice started up again. Only this time, it told the fucking truth. It also didn't end where it normally did and repeat the same things as it did before. It continued and told me of protection from others, things that I needed no help in recalling. The details as it described the fight and complete ass kicking Demetri gave those three vampires were spot on, right down to the last gory one. I relived it in the same morbid fascination as I had the first time.

The only difference was this time there were a few things that I missed because they moved too fast for me to see. It didn't matter. It only added to the scene and convinced me even more that Demetri would always protect me from anyone. He got hurt in the short scuffle, a deep bite to the arm that would forever scar him with a permanent visual reminder to me that he would sooner get hurt himself than allow it to happen to me.

Only once more did the voice run my memories with me again before it vanished to the wayside of my thoughts. Didn't matter, I didn't need it to remind me of my past. I knew what happened in my life and I didn't need my inner voice to tell me. On my own, I ran the gauntlet of my memories, seeing every detail that occurred and the way Demetri was always there to protect me, to save me from those that wished me harm. Over and over I saw his blunt and direct way of dealing with others and the caring way he dealt with me.

It was during a replay of the fight that the burning once again reared up and called my every attention to it. My heart kicked up and began to hammer against my ribs, the speed and force making my breath catch and clog my throat. My eyes flew open and my mouth fell open in a silent scream that I couldn't push past the lump that formed. My back arched and I came face to face with Demetri once again as he stood right by my head, leaning down and butting his nose to mine.

He had a hand on either side of my head to prop himself up when he pulled back. His lips moved but I couldn't hear the words he said as a roar of white noise once again erupted in my ears. I didn't need to hear him though to know he was saying words of comfort and apology over this. You could see in his eyes that he wished it didn't have to happen. It seemed wrong to me to see such things from him. I wanted to tell him not to look like that but I couldn't get the words out as I once again had a ripple of fire pulse from my heart. It was so hot and so painful that my vision went dark.

 **DPOV**

Humans and their exponentially feeble minds will never cease to amuse me. You could literally get them to believe anything if you repeat yourself enough. You could also change what they think they know with very little effort on your part. I knew I had succeeded in changing her memories when she whined like a wounded puppy, and that only took me two hours.

It really is all about timing. When you are half insane from pain you will latch onto anything to try and counteract it. I started my little walk down memory lane on the second day of her change but I knew she had no idea that it was so long into the torture she had gone through.

Now she was in her final moments, minutes till she woke up, and all she knows is what I wanted her to. She might have retained one or two others, but not a single one would paint whoever was in it in a very good light. However, regardless of the success, I had zero intentions of pushing her. For the moment, this was a very delicate situation and would remain one for about a week. During that time, her mind was going to be very scattered and very susceptible to influence. Newborn vampires are a lot like newborn humans in that way. They only know what you teach them and you had a very small window to cement things in a baby vampire's mind.

The next seven days were going to be very important. Everything that I did during her change could very well be undone if someone got it in their heads to do so. However, be that as it may, I have never lied to her. What I did was change her memories to what they should have always been and I didn't do it just because I could like others would have. I did it because it was necessary to undo the damage done to her by the Cullens. I meant what I said about my mate not thinking eating animals was in any way acceptable.

Yes, MY mate. She was never Cullen's to begin with and what was more was he knew it. If not before his ill-fated death plan, certainly before he left with her that day. We know our mates when we see them, and we know it by scent. There is no magical connection when our eyes meet across the room. There is no instant love that ignites in our guts and makes our heart nearly begin to beat again. That little fucker is deader than a doornail when we wake up. There is no bringing life back into it. There is no feeling of being alive that comes with finding our mates either. It is just what it is. It is a change to our makeup, sure, but not in the way soft and squishy humans like to think. What it does, is wake a dormant demon that will stop at nothing to have what it sees as their possession. And this little female belongs to mine.

It also wouldn't have mattered had Cullen followed the ruling and changed her as he was told to. She still would have belonged to me. That was the only reason she was allowed to leave. I felt she had a right to have her final good-byes to her human life and decided to grant that. Otherwise, she never would have left Volterra four months ago.

What none of them knew was that we knew about Isabella before we ever even saw her. The red headed vampire in mourning came to us first and was turned down when she requested aid in dealing with the coven that killed her male and coven leader. When she revealed they had a human living with them, Master Aro was a little more interested in her pleas, though still not enough to get involved over a dispute that had nothing to do with us. He did hear her out, however, and he wasn't overly happy about finding out the Cullen Coven had, once again, lost their fucking minds.

Isabella was not the first human to find out about us because of Edward Cullen, but she was damn sure going to be the last.


	7. Chapter 7

**DPOV**

Counting down the final heartbeats of a changing human is fascinating. They always become a contortionist, bending in ways that a creature with bones and stone skin should not be able to mimic. That aside, I took a couple of steps back, giving her a little breathing room. No matter what her mind knew, she was still going to react as anyone that just woke up did. She'll be confused because the pain is gone. Her ears are going to be ringing because of the white nose that lasts about a minute after waking. Her eyes will be blurry for about the same amount of time because venom is thicker than the normal tears that would cover them making seeing difficult until you get used to it.

Nothing is instant as far as senses go for a freshly woken vampire. The only thing that is, is the instinct to survive and if you wake up with another present, that you cannot see or hear, you will always feel threatened. Not even their sense of smell will lend them a hand in this endeavor. Humans can catch our scent, but it not the same. It is sharper, clearer, and more defined to a vampire than it will ever be to a human so there are no dots to connect because it is not the same scent.

Take mine for example. To a human, it would be defined as a basic woodland scent. Trees, grass, dirt; things of that nature. To a vampire, it is far more involved and closer to the rainforest during a hurricane. You can smell the moisture, the wind, the trees, the earth in general with nothing to set me apart from my surroundings. When outside, where we are most in our element, I could be standing right behind you and you would never know it until it was too late.

This not being my first time dealing with a newborn, I was ready when the attack came. I just smirked as she came at me with teeth and claws. With a twist, I had her back slammed into the wall behind me, her hands trapped above her head and a forearm across her chest to hold her in place. She snarled and snapped at me.

I just leaned back and out of her reach, a chuckle in my throat. "Now, that's not very nice. Such a naughty little thing, aren't you, Gatáki?"

It was the name that broke through to her and made her take pause. Her eyes were still cloudy and unfocused, but she stopped trying to eat my face. She started at me for a moment before the most curious thing happened. She took a sniff of the air and her eyes glowed pink for a moment before they went back to red. When they settled back into the bright red of a newborn vampire, they were clear and focused meaning that the venom over her eyes had settled into the proper consistency and she could see properly.

Her voice when she spoke was soft and unsure. You could see the war behind her eyes between the muddy images of her human mind as sharper and clearer details made themselves known to her. "Demetri?"

Letting up on the restraining hold and releasing her hands, I nodded once but said nothing. Her eyes narrowed a little as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Her movements were hesitant and slow, measured and slightly jerky as she lifted a hand and lightly touched my cheek with her fingertips.

Her head tilted slightly to the side, amazement lighting the depths of her eyes. "You look so different."

I smirked at her, the corner of my lip lifting to flash my teeth. "No, I look the same. You're just seeing with different eyes. Everything is going to look different to you; sharper, clearer, more defined. Nothing will be unseen. It can be a little disorienting at first until you get used to it."

She nodded a little, her eyes still curious. "How long until that happens?"

I pressed my lips together with a hum. "Oh, I don't know, couple of weeks maybe. Some things will intrigue you. Some things will scare you. Others could very well terrify you. Nothing about this is going to be easy or instant. It takes time to grow used to the heightening of your senses to the degree they grew. Loud sounds will hurt your ears. Bright lights will hurt your eyes. Overly strong and multiple scents can make your head hurt a little. The first few weeks of this life are not a stroll through a garden, Gatáki. You are going to be cranky, irritable, hungry and very unstable as far as emotional climate goes. One minute you'll be calm and the next ready to go ten rounds with Satan with no warning whatsoever."

The poor thing looked like she was about to cry, and I hadn't even gotten to the bad shit yet. Her brow was drawn down but her eyes were wide. She whimpered slightly and I chuckled. Taking her chin on my grip, I tilted her head back a little and grinned at her. "Relax, Gatáki. All of that is normal. Every single vampire has gone through it. This is a… rite of passage, so to speak. You must learn to crawl before you can walk and walk before you run. It's a learning process that no one can get out of."

She gulped, her eyes dropping for a moment before she looked back into mine. "You'll be there to help me, right?"

I snorted. I couldn't help it. "Of course. As a matter of fact, I have your first meal ready and waiting, as well as something to help you get your emotions back in check after you eat."

I absolutely remembered that I was going to have Isabella bring Felix down a peg or two and as soon as she eats, she'll be doing just that as I see to teaching Afton a little lesson in controlling his squad.

*X*

My little Gatáki's first meal went about as I thought it would. She, and the cell her meal was in, were a mess. Christ, I cannot actually recall a time that such brutality was used during a newborn's first feeding. I am not even going to hazard a guess as to how much blood she actually drank versus what she was wearing, but I do know how much blood is in a human's body and there was at least three of five covering Isabella and dripping from the rafters.

She stood in the middle of her created chaos, her eyes darting every which way as if looking for anything that survived. There was life giving crimson dripping from her bangs, a little splash sounding every time one fell into the pool at her feet. The blood had also apparently pooled in her palms because when she cracked her knuckles, it splattered from her hands.

She was adorable.

As the river of death made its way to my feet, I grunted a little as I lifted the tail of my jacket off the floor. Blood was a bitch to get out and this was my favorite one. Luna was used to blood on our shoes and didn't usually throw too much of a hissy fit over that. She was just going to burn what Isabella was currently wearing, that was a given. Scratching my temple, I clicked my tongue as I finished surveying the damage. "Did you actually eat anything, Gatáki, or just play?"

Her eyes snapped back into focus as the sound of my voice, darting over the room as a look of confusion settled on her face. Finally, she pointed to a section of the room that had scattered human body parts all over the place. "I ate him." Then she scratched her head, "I think it was him." Her lip curled a little as I pressed mine together to stop from laughing. She then pointed to the other side of the room. "It might have been her." Her voice grew even more confused as her head tilted slightly. "I think it was a her."

I glanced over to where she was pointing now and saw what might have at one point been a human woman, but was now nothing but a mangled and shredded corpse.

My eyes snapped back to Isabella when she grunted a little. She had her hands held up to her face, her nose wrinkled. "I'm a mess."

That time I did chuckle. "No, the room is a mess. You? You are far worse than just that." Turning to the side and holding my hand towards the door, "Come. I do believe that Luna has a bath and a change of clothes waiting for you."

Isabella nodded and, with a final look around the room, she followed after me. She went to grab my arm and I twisted out of her reach. "Oh, no you don't." When she blinked at me, her eyes drawn, I grinned. "Do you have any idea just how difficult it is to get blood out of this kind of fabric? I will carry you if that is your desire, but not until after a bath."

She pursed her lips a little, but once again looked down at herself, seeing the blood of her meal continue to drip from her hair, skin and clothes and fall to the floor. She creased her brow and glanced behind her, a noise of shock and surprise sounding out into the hall. "Holy shit."

I hummed before looked over my shoulder as well, a brow sliding up to my hairline. There was a very clear trail to follow from us to the room Isabella destroyed. I cocked my head and nodded. "That, again, is relatively normal. However," turning to her, "should it become a regular occurrence after you learn to feed properly, I do believe the cleaning staff will come to hate you."

She bit her lip and looked up at me with a sheepish look. "Sorry."

I snorted and shook my head, a light chuckle rumbling my chest. "Don't apologize to me. I'm not cleaning that up." I lifted the cuff of my jacket and clicked my tongue as I saw the time. "I have other obligations to see to currently." Looking up and seeing Luna standing at the end of the hall, I dipped my head to her and smirked at the look on her face when she saw the state of my mate. "Gatáki?" When she looked up at me, I glanced down at her. "You do remember Luna, yes?"

Isabella looked at me for a moment longer before she too looked to the small vampire that was looking back at her in absolute horror. She bit her lip as she tried to connect the dots on where she had seen her before and nodded slowly. "A little."

I nodded to her and when we were a little closer to Luna, her eyes widened and a hand came up to cover her mouth. "Good heavens, Child. What in the many levels of Hell did your meal do to piss you off?"

Isabella bit her lip and crossed her arms behind her back. "Um… nothing? Sorry, I made a little bit of a mess."

Luna choked on her tongue, an unidentifiable noise sounding from behind her tongue. She shook her head and looked at me, her brow cocked. "Master Demetri?"

I just shrugged. "I didn't feed her. She fed herself, and it was her first try, Luna. Cut her some slack." Luna grunted a little as she covered her face with her hands while I looked back at my mate. "I must be off. I have a few things to see to that were neglected over the last few days. I'll leave you in Luna's care and she will return you to me once you're cleaned up."

Isabella looked back and forth between myself and Luna a few times before she stayed looking up at me, her voice agreeable but her eyes showed she didn't like this. "Alright."

I smiled at her and grabbed her blood covered hand. "There's a good girl." Bringing her knuckles to my lips, "I'll see you soon, Sýntrofos." After pressing a light kiss to her bloody hand, I licked her dinner from my lips with a hum making Isabella giggle a little. I winked at her before cocking a brow. "Behave." Then as an afterthought, I slid my eyes over to Luna. "Both of you." With one more glance at my mate, I turned and left the two ladies to get acquainted and my girl to get cleaned up.

As I was walking past Luna, she sighed. "Just so we are clear, Master Demetri. I am not even going to attempt to clean her clothes."

I didn't pause as I nodded in response. "Never would have thought you would, Luna."

 **BPOV**

As I stood in the hallway dripping blood into a pool at my feet, I watched Demetri bound up the steps and out of sight. This felt weird. However, I didn't get to dwell on it long before Luna waved a hand in front of my face making me jump. I growled at her, not because I meant to, but because she startled me.

She didn't even look surprised at the reaction as she smiled at me. "Well, Mistress. I must say you look much different than the last time I saw you, and I am not talking about your attempt to get a part in a B-rated horror movie." I nodded but just turned back to where Demetri vanished to, Luna looking over her shoulder a moment before looking back, understanding in her eyes. "This particular bond between you and Master Demetri is still very new. It will take a little time before you grow used to the separation anxiety and it doesn't affect you in such a way." Then she smiled at me again. "He is feeling the separation as well, Mistress. Probably more than you are since he's the male."

I blinked at her again. "Really?"

She nodded and turned, crooking a finger at me so I would follow her into a room off the hall. "Of course. You are only hours awake and this is the first you have left his sight, even before your change. It's his job to protect you and he isn't here to do so." Her head tilted to the side slightly as she stood in the doorway before she glanced back at me. "I almost feel bad for whomever it was that pissed him off right before your change." She stepped in the room and then off to the side so I could pass her. "So, let's get you cleaned up and returned to him before he destroys more than one vampire. He gets away with more than anyone, but thinning the guard will land him trouble with the Head Masters."

I nodded and passed by her into the room. It wasn't anything spectacular. It was a basic bathroom. The tub was already filled with steaming water and bubbles. There was a fifty gallon drum off to one corner and I didn't really want to know why, so I didn't ask.

Luna bustled around the room for a moment before she turned to me with a smile. "You can go ahead and just rip those off. I have something else to put on you after you're clean and those clothes are beyond saving. Just throw them in there when you get them off." When she pointed to the drum, I figured out what it was for.

She was burning my clothes.

Looking down at myself again, I really couldn't blame her. I wouldn't want to try and wash them either. With a shrug, I walked over to the drum, grabbing the hem of my shirt and tried to pull it over my head. However, the blood I was covered in had started to dry and my shirt was sticky so I didn't so much pull it off, but more like shred it. When the rip reached my ears, I stopped, whirling around and staring at Luna with wide eyes.

She just laughed before coming over and twirling her finger at me, telling me to turn around. Doing as I was told, I turned around and she came up behind me, making me tense a little as she grabbed the back of my shirt and just ripping it in two. She pulled it off my arms and tossed both pieces into the drum before squatting down and grabbing the cuffs of my jeans and tearing the denim up my legs. First one side then the other and doing the same to them. Once I was down to bra and underwear, she crossed her arms and smirked. "Do you want to remove those on your own or am I shredding them too?"

My jaw went a little lax and I shook my head. "I'll take them off."

Luna snorted but nodded and went back to what she was doing. "You are not my first blood covered newborn to see naked, Mistress. There is no need to be shy. Finish undressing and get in the tub so I can try and get the gallons of blood out of your hair."

I looked back at her before looking down at myself. With a shrug and a sigh, I grabbed the sides of my panties and pulled them off like Luna did to my jeans and, after tossing them into the drum, I grabbed the front of my bra and, with a twist of my wrists, broke the clasp and took it off. Once it joined the rest of my clothes in the drum, I turned and went to the tub, pursing my lips at the amount of steam coming out of it.

Lifting my eyes to Luna, I cleared my throat. "Isn't it too hot?"

She giggled and turned to grin at me. "No. It is going to feel fantastic. You don't have body heat anymore, Mistress. You cannot tell, but it is actually very cold in here, hence all the steam. Anything warmer than you will feel like heaven. Nothing will ever be 'too hot'."

I gave her a dubious look, but did as I was told and slowly put a foot in the water, sighing nearly right away at the warmth that it filled my foot with. I won't say I dove in because I didn't. I did, however, make quite a splash with how quickly I submerged myself though. I watched with a sense of morbid fascination as the once white bubbles turned pink as the blood melted off me and stained them and the water, blinking a little at the fact my tits bobbed on the top of the water. I never had boobs before so this was different.

I pushed them down under the surface, my eyes widening as they popped right back up. A smile lit my face as I did it again with the same results. This was a fun little game. I sat up a little more, pushing my butt off the bottom of the tub with my hands and bounced a little, giggling when they jiggled at the action. Well, now I know why men love tits so much. These fuckers are fun to play with.

When there was a snort behind me, I turned to Luna with a grin. She just shook her head with an amused 'newborns' falling from her lips as she pulled her long sleeved shirt over her head, leaving her in a just a tank top. She cracked her knuckles and rolled her head on her shoulders before she knelt next to the tub by my head. "Alright Mistress, under you go. Let's get your hair clean and we'll go from there. Oh, and a word to the wise. You don't need to breath and you will hate yourself if you inhale the water."

I glanced at her before nodding and, taking a breath through my mouth anyways, dunked my head under the water. I was going to come right back up, but my eyes rolled up into the back of my head when I felt her fingers slip into my hair and rake across my scalp. I groaned at the feel, following her commands as her fingers pushed and turned my head from one side to the other. I nearly mourned the loss when her hands left my head and tapped my shoulder, telling me to come back up.

Coming out from under the water, I ran my hands down my face, sniffling a little. I grunted slightly when there was the same stab of pain to the back of my skull as there was when I smelled Demetri's scent for the first time. I reached up and pushed against it as I looked over my shoulder at Luna, my face pinched up a little. Just like with Demetri, I saw a pink fog that led to Luna. I shifted my eyes and saw the same fog floating all over the room, not moving or dissipating as you would think fog would. I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was it made my head hurt.

When she looked at me, her eyes went wide and a light gasp slipped past her lips as she jumped a little and dropped the bottle of shampoo she was holding. I whimpered and her eyes snapped to mine, the relief of pain subsiding with the eye contact. I closed my eyes and laid my forehead on the edge of the tub, a quiet little whine sounding from my throat. "Ow."

I heard Luna grunt a little and it sounded both confused and torn. I didn't know why it would sound like that, but I got the confusion. I didn't know what the fuck was going on either.

After a moment, I heard her clear her throat a little. "Are you alright, Mistress? Do you want me to call Master Demetri back?"

As wonderful as the offer sounded, I shook my head. I didn't want him to come down only to have to watch him leave again so I could finish getting a bath. I was still covered in blood and I knew he had things to do at the moment. "No, it's alright." Then I lifted my head to look at her, my voice quiet as I told her why. "I don't want to see him leave again."

Her eyes seemed to soften when I said that and she nodded. "Well, let's hurry up and finish your bath. I do have to tell him what just happened though."

I nodded my understanding and she picked back up the bottle she dropped, setting to work getting the blood out of my hair and then off of me.

Ten minutes later she deemed me done and grabbed a towel, moving back so I could get out of the tub. After wrapping that one around me, she grabbed another and set to work drying my hair before having me bend over so she could wrap it around my head. Then she set to work drying me off before turning and picking up the pile of clothes that were sitting on the counter.

Beckoning me with a crooked finger, she took the underwear and knelt, holding them for me to set into. To my utter shock, they fit perfectly. She then took my towel away and picked up a corset style top and turned me so my back was to her. Reaching around me, she set it in place before she quickly did up the latch hooks that went up the back. When she bent back down to help me into the short black skirt she had for me, I looked in the mirror and got a look at the top. It was black with red lace trim and over where my heart was, was a copy of the pendent that Demetri had around his neck in white stitching. I looked down and ran my fingers over it as Luna did the zipper and button on the back of my skirt.

"What's this?"

She looked at me in the mirror before where I was looking at, a small smile on her face as she reached up and pulled the towel from my mostly dried hair. "That is Master Demetri's personal crest. If you look at the different necklaces and chokers that the guards wear, you will see that each level within the guard look a little different from the next. The different crests separate the different ranks. The one that Master Demetri wears is a one of a kind, naming him as the Head of the Guard. You'll wear his crest to show that you are his. When you get your choker, it will be exactly like his only crafted in white gold instead of the yellow gold he wears as any other mate to a guard member. Until it arrives, the crest will be displayed on your shirt right where that one is."

I sat down on the chair when I was told to, Luna picking up a brush. I looked at the design for a moment longer before turning back to the mirror, taking a moment to look at myself. Luna was right, I did look different than I used too. My hair was still brown, but it was darker, the red and copper highlights sharpened so they stuck out more. My lips were fuller and stained red. My eyes were a glowing red and my lashes were fuller and longer, like I was wearing mascara even though I wasn't. My eyes themselves seemed to have dark liner burned around them, the lids also stained in fading shades of grays. I would never have to fuck with makeup again. Hells yeah.

Once she was done brushing my hair, Luna put it up into a high ponytail, scrunching it with her hands to make it fluffier and fuller looking. When I told her I hardly ever wore my hair up, she smiled. "You will now. Until your choker comes, Master Demetri will demand that your hair not cover his mark on your neck or the crest on you shirt, which it is long enough to do both." She tapped a place just below my throat, "The pendant will lay right here making covering it impossible and he'll relax a little on keeping his mark uncovered." When I blinked at her again, she giggled. "I told you, the mating bond between you two is still very new… and males of our kind are extremely possessive of their mates. He waited over two thousand years to find you, Mistress. You are just going to have to go with the flow on this until the bond is cemented."


	8. Chapter 8

**DPOV**

I was twitchy and far more irritable than normal when overseeing the evaluation of the newer guards. I stood next to Felix with my eyes closed, the bridge of my nose pinched between two fingers. This was pointless, and for more than just the fact I couldn't really pay attention to what was going on. I groaned when I heard yet another call for corners.

Felix snorted next to me. "Well, this is fun."

I growled low and lifted my head, crossing my arms and glaring at the field below us. "They are all a bunch of backyard wrestling halfwit rejects. Not a single one of them would last against even the lowest level of guards."

He chuckled a little. "Don't you think you're being just a little over critical?" He pointed to one on the other side of the field from us. "That one could at least take Santiago."

I set a hand on the railing and looked to where he was pointing and saw a little larger than normal vampire, I would say was about three or so, facing off with a giant. "Anyone can learn to fight, Felix. It's a matter of it being worth the headache to teach them. At the moment, I am not seeing a single one that would be."

He turned his back to the field and leaned against the railing with his arms crossed. "What is it, exactly, you're not seeing, Dem? Is it you really don't see anyone that would be worth the time to properly train to take the places of the three you mutilated the other day? Or is it more you don't see anyone worth cutting into the time needed to properly raise your mate? There is a difference and there is a solution. If it's the former, then we can leave this alone for now and let them spend more time in basic training and if it's the latter, tell me who it is and I'll see to it they are moved to advanced fighting and have them overseen by someone that is not an idiot so you can focus on your girl. Besides, it's not like moving a few of these guys out of basic is a guaranteed placement higher up. That shit won't go down without your say so. But, the Masters are going to want those three from the other day replaced and soon."

I cocked my head to the side as an idea popped into my head to do just that. Looking over at Felix with a smirk, "I suppose the only way we will ever know just how well anyone would do in that high of a rank, is to see it happen. I want…"

Before I was able to finish the order there was a shriek of clear and absolute agony from the hall. I whipped around with a growl before I darted from the overlook, Felix right behind me. That noise came from my mate and it seemed that someone else was about to die. How wonderful... another guard to fucking replace. Fantastic.

I slowed as I turned the final corner that separated us, eyes narrowed and teeth barred. There was a group of lesser guards in the hall, every one of them talking at once but all I heard was my mate's whimpers and, surprisingly, Luna's snarls. Since they didn't seem to want to heed Luna's warning, let see if they will listen to mine.

I growled deep in my chest before I spoke in a normal volume voice. "Get, away from them." You really do get better results when others know you're pissed off, but you do not yell. As the guards in the hall scrambled to back away from Isabella and Luna, and I mean they parted like the Red fucking Sea, I was able to get a glimpse of the two and I was not a fan of what I saw.

Isabella was down on the ground, curled into a ball with her head tucked to her chest and her fingers in her hair as she grabbed her head and Luna was crouched in front of her in an attack position. For as small as Luna is, the little demon can certainly fuck someone up if she got it in her head to do so.

I approached the pair it was with cautious steps. I wouldn't get pissed off if I was growled at, or Hell, even snapped at, because Luna was trying to defend my mate against a large group of males. I would, however, get a little testy if I got bit. When she lunged, I half expected it, so I was able to dodge it for the most part. However, her nails caught the fabric of my fucking jacket. Rounding on her and seeing the slash marks, I growled at her. "Luna! Are you out of your Goddamn mind?"

When she slid across the floor, she rounded back and blinked, her eyes widening in horror. "Master Demetri, I am so sorry. I didn't… I mean…"

I just waved a hand at her. "Enough, Luna." Turning back and closing the distance to my mate, I glared at everyone still in the halls as I called over my shoulder. "Do you want to tell me what happened here?"

I crouched by Isabella's head as Luna came up behind me, her voice confused and low. "I don't know, Master Demetri. She was fine while we were in the washroom for the most part, but…"

I set a hand on my mates head but looked over my shoulder at Luna, a brow cocked. "For the most part?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "Yes. There was a very odd thing that happened while she was in the tub after I rinsed her hair. When she looked at me, her face told of pain and her eyes were pink. It didn't last long before her eyes went back to the right color, but it was peculiar and she said it hurt, but not what or where. After that, everything was fine so I didn't call on you since she said not to. Nothing else amiss happened until we got close to these men. She tensed and then this."

I narrowed my eyes a little at that, humming as I looked back at Isabella. I think I have an idea as to what is going on. "What did she do right before her eyes changed during her bath?"

I heard Luna hum before she clicked her tongue. "She sniffled after she came above water."

I cocked my head to the side. "Before she cried out, did she breathe? I do not mean the intake of air to scream. I mean before that."

"I am unsure, Master Demetri."

I nodded and reached under Isabella's head, lifting it with a crooked finger under her chin, completely unsurprised to see pink eyes looking back at me. Glancing to the faces of those that were watching the goings on, I looked back to my mate. "This is going to sound like a really stupid question, but I still need you to answer it. Does your head hurt?" When Isabella nodded once, I pushed against the base of her skull to the left of her neck. "Here?" When she shook her head, I did the same to the other side. "Here then?"

When she whined, I nodded. "Bingo." Clamping my hand over her nose, I locked my eyes on hers. "Breathe through your nose." When I felt her take a hit of my scent, I turned to Felix. "Clear the halls and find Alec. I have a job for you two."

Felix had a bewildered look on his face as he stared at my mate and I. He nodded but pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "But what about…"

I cut him off. "Fuck 'em. This is far more important than a bunch of piss poor fighters and their piss poor ability to impress me. I will deal with replacements later."

He gave me a nod and began to clear the hall we were in. I just kept kneeling in front of Isabella with my hand over her nose for the time being. For the moment, it was a question on how to remove her from the area and not have this happen again until a permanent solution could be worked out.

When he was standing next to me, Felix looked down at us. "So, what's going on?"

I pursed my lips and glanced up at him. "It would seem that Isabella here has inherited part of my gift." When she whimpered into my hand, I looked back at her, placing my other hand back on her skull and rubbing the area that the pain was at. "I know how bad this hurts, Gatáki, but it will pass in a few moments. Just be still for now."

Felix cocked his head and crossed his arms. "Which part?"

I shook my head with a sigh. "Right now, all I knew for sure she got from me is the ability to retain and recall. That's the reason for the stabbing pain in the back of the skull. It takes a while to get used to it and it hurts like a mother fucker. I don't know if she can track over the same distance as I can or not and there is only one way to find that out. The rest of it, I don't know if she got it from me or not." I looked over at Felix and cocked a brow. "She's a scent based tracker, I'm not. However, we do know who is."

He looked confused for a moment before you saw it click. "The nomad."

I nodded at him. I wasn't the first tracker to bite Isabella and it seemed that there was still at least a little of his venom left in her system and she took on the qualities of both of us. It wasn't her fault and chances are she would have gained the abilities of a hunter regardless of the fact that she had the venom of two in her blood at time simply because of how powerful and honed my gift was. Her ability is just geared more towards scent because the nomad was a scent based hunter and my gift works with it too. It would be no different than any other that was turned by more than one vampire.

If you want to get really technical, she has two sires for the simple fact that there are two different sets of venom that contributed to her change.

When she was bitten by the nomad, no matter the fact it was awhile ago, there was absolutely no chance of getting it all out. The change had already started meaning the venom had already changed her DNA make up. Cullen only pulled enough out to stop the change from happening, but unless he drained her of every last drop of blood, there was no way to get it all. Master Aro was laughing as he told me of the blood transfusion she underwent because of all the blood lost, leaving the Cullens to think her system was completely flushed and clean. They were idiots. Muscles, organ tissue, the lining of her veins, it all contained hints and traces of the nomad's venom, just not enough to be noticed.

Because of the similar traits that I shared with him as a fellow tracker, when my venom was introduced into her system, instead of destroying it, it mixed with what was there. It didn't in anyway take over the overall makeup of her new DNA, there wasn't enough of it. What it did do, was add to it and enhance certain aspects of my venom and the result was a newborn vampire with probably the most sensitive nose in history.

I didn't know enough about the nomad or his gift to be able to say for sure what Isabella got from either of us outside of my inherited ability to retain the scent and recall it at any time. However, I DID know where I could scrounge up the information.

Felix wrinkled his nose a little for a moment, looking at Isabella before looking back at me. "And, what is it exactly you want me and Alec to do?"

I smirked and he gulped. "I am not going to allow this to happen every time she catches a new scent. It takes decades to get used to the pain caused by what she got from me and I cannot imagine what it feels like to have to feel it for more than one new person at a time. My gift works on one person at a time and I wouldn't make eye contact with anyone for over two years when we figured out that's how my connections were made. This clearly shows she catalogs every scent she comes across, no matter how many there are. I want you two to figure out a way to dull her sense of smell for the time being."

Felix grunted a little, rolling his head on his shoulders a few times before he nodded slowly once. "Alright. Give us a couple of hours and we'll come up with something."

I nodded at him and repositioned myself next to my mate. Before I was able to do more than that, Luna spoke up. "Is there anything I can do, Master Demetri?"

I glanced at her for a moment, about to say not right now when something popped into my head. "Yeah, there is one thing I want you to do." I shrugged out of my jacket, and held it out to her. "You get to fix this."

She looked a little sheepish when she took it and folded it over her arm. "Right. I'll see to it right away."

Nodding to her, I turned back to my mate, slipping an arm under her knees and behind her back. "Alright, Sýntrofos, up we go."

She slowly lifted her head and looked at me. Her eyes were ruby red again but there was no denying she was in some serious pain right now.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and shoved her nose into my throat, a quiet whine sounding from hers. Standing with my mate in my arms, I dipped my head and nuzzled my nose into her hair. "I told you I would carry you after your bath." Lifting my head again, I looked over at Felix. "We will be in my chambers when you have something figured out since it is the easiestly controlled environment."

I turned to leave and Felix cleared his throat which sounded a little uncomfortable. "Um, not to be the asshole here, Dem, but Master Caius is going to want to physically see that she's changed. Not to mention Master Aro is going to be interested in the fact she's gifted."

I turned back halfway and cocked a brow. "If my absence is not enough for Caius, he can come to my rooms and see for himself. As for Aro, he can lick my dick. I don't rightly care if he is interested in my mate or not. If he wants her in robes, he better have a very good, convincing reason as to why I should allow it." Then I turned and headed to my rooms. "His own laws clearly state my mate, my choice."

 ***X***

Even after Isabella and I were in my rooms, it still took me a decent amount of time to talk her out of my neck. Truthfully, I could not blame her. I knew what she was feeling felt like and it wasn't pleasant. I wasn't kidding when I told Felix I didn't make eye contact with anyone for over two years to avoid it. It had felt like the back of my skull was being ripped in half from the inside out. It was perfectly possible for a vampire to get a migraine and I didn't hold her fear of what happened before happening again against her.

However, finally, I was able to convince her that there were no other scents in here but mine and now hers. She was slow in her movements, but she did pull back a little, giving a light sniff of the air, her body relaxing when she found out I was right. When she loosened her grip around my neck, I lowered her legs so she could stand on her own but I didn't release her completely. With the arm that was still behind her back I pulled her closer to my chest, the hand that was under her legs lifting up and crooking under her chin.

Tilting her head back so I could see her face, I tilted my head a little to the side and just looked at her, taking in the changes to her features. She hardly looked anything like she used too. She was a beautiful human too. Now, she was a stunning vampiress. She just looked back at me, her red eyes shining and a small upturn to the corners of her mouth.

I dipped my head and butted her nose before setting my forehead to hers. "I have to make a call. Do you think you can behave for a little while and not break anything or do I need to go ahead and tie you to the bed now?"

Her mouth turned up into a wider smile and she giggled a little. "That depends on your definition of 'behave'."

A rough sounding purr came from my chest at her words as I smirked at her. "You are going to make the next couple of days extremely difficult for me, aren't you?" When all she did was giggle again, it took more than I thought I had not to groan. Pulling back from her, I again tilted her head back with the side of my finger. "Let me put it this way, Gatáki. You let me make this call with no interruptions and I won't beat your little ass. How does that sound?"

She bit into her bottom lip a little before looking up at me through her lashes. "Like a challenge." That time I did groan which did nothing but make her giggle again. "Alright, Demetri. I'll be good."

I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and grinned a little. "Wonderful. Have a look around and get acquainted with the room. It is yours now as well. But, I meant what I said. Don't break anything, or at least try not to."

When she nodded to me, I pecked the tip of her nose, let her go and went over to my bedside table to get my phone. This wasn't the ideal place to get the information I needed about the nomad that bit Isabella a year ago, but as everyone in the coven was currently dead, it was the only option there was.

Taking a seat in a chair by the fireplace, I kicked my feet up on the stool and opened my phone. Dialing a number that I don't believe I have ever used, I put the phone to my ear and waited for the other end to pick up.


	9. Chapter 9

**DPOV**

When I heard the other line pick up four rings after the number was dialed, I knew I was about to be entertained and I wasn't disappointed. This man had been gone and 'retired' for a very long time. However, once a Volturi, you never really quit. You simply move to the back ground but you are always expected to be there when called upon.

I doubted very much that Eleazar knew exactly who it was calling, but he knew it was one of us. His voice was resigned, flat when he answered the phone. He knew that this was probably going to happen due to 'guilt by association'. He was far too close to Carlisle for us not to assume he also had knowledge of a human within our world. However, that wasn't what I was calling about. There might be a time in the future that changes, but for the moment, he was safe.

From me at least.

I smirked at his greeting. It was as proper as I figured it would be. I just chuckled. "Relax old man. No need to stand on protocol now. You're already fucked."

There was a female's gasp followed by a sigh and the click of a closing door. There was a moment of silence before he returned. "Master Demetri. You are not who I was expecting to hear from."

I snorted. "Come now, Eleazar. You never thought to hear from any of us. That aside, I believe you know why I'm calling." When he sighed again I grinned. I loved mind games.

He cleared his throat. "Yes, I have an idea."

Tisking lightly with a shake of my head, I sighed in mock disappointment. "Really, Eleazar? A human? You of all people should know better. The term disappointed doesn't even come close. Master Aro wants your head for this as well, though I have no doubt you already knew that."

There was yet another sigh, though this one held a little heat in it. Seems the retired guard still had a little life left in him after all. "Gloating does not become a gentleman, Demetri."

I snorted a little harder that time. "Says the vampire stupid enough to willingly step into condemnation for someone else's larger capacity for stupidity. Besides, I'm only a gentleman to females. I take great pleasure in destroying vampires like you. What is more, you know it. However, if you choose to call my upbringing into question, perhaps a gentleman's wager will lull you back into your disillusion of our race and our nonexistent capacity for compassion. You have something I want. I have something you need. A fair exchange and you'll never see me personally darken your door."

I heard him choke on his surprise at that. "What could I possibly have that you need? You don't need confirmation of the human or anything that involves her."

I grunted. "You right, you don't have anything I need. I said you have something I want. It was I that has something YOU need. I have absolutely no desire to hunt your ass down and bring you before the Masters simply because you're an idiot that forgot himself over the years. You need me to not change my mind."

He was silent for a moment before he came back on, curiosity in his voice. "What is it you want, Demetri?"

Before I was able to say anything, my stereo kicked on. It wouldn't have been a big deal had it not been so fucking loud. Through the phone I heard a startled cry from Eleazar, probably as he ripped the phone from his ear, and I jumped an inch off my seat. With a shake of my head, I picked up the remote that was on the table next to me and looked over my shoulder, cocking a brow at my mate that stood there with her ears covered and wide eyes.

After I hit the power button on the remote to turn it off, I gave Isabella a flat look. "Really?"

She bit into her lip again, giving me the same sheepish look that I have seen now more times than I cared to count. "Sorry, but big red button, beckon in the night that begs to be pushed. No one can resist the call of the big red button."

I snorted. "Silly little thing tonight, aren't you?" Then I pointed to the bed. "Sit."

She gave one sharp nod of her head. "Yeah, I'll just go sit. Sorry."

Once she was sitting down, choosing to sit on her hands for whatever reason, I shook my head with a little chuckle. "You really need to stop apologizing, Gatáki. Nothing you have done thus far has warranted such a thing. Massacres, bloody messes, curiosity; it's all normal and to be expected." When she nodded, I returned to my call. "Apologies, Eleazar. Newborns and all that. Now, back to what I was calling about. The nomad you took in a year ago…"

Eleazar cut in at that point. "If you're looking for him, you will not find him here. He was destroyed a few months back."

"I'm aware of that. I am not looking for his whereabouts. I am looking for information on his former coven leader. I want you to tell me anything he told you about the tracker. More specifically, what he told you of his gift."

His voice was now defensive. "What makes you think he told me anything at all?"

Even though he couldn't see it, my brow cocked. "Because I am not a fool. You wouldn't have allowed him to stay with yours had he not divulged anything about what it was you would have been facing had Carlisle and his little band of misfits failed in taking the tracker out. You seem to think that I am calling without prior knowledge of what I am requesting. What you fail to remember, Eleazar, is we know everything. What little we do not, we have way of obtaining. Now, you can either answer me and tell me what I want to know, or you call tell Aro. The choice is yours. However, my patience is a lot thinner than it used to be so were I you, I would make my choice very soon."

Eleazar was quiet for a moment before he started talking again, getting right to the point. "He didn't tell me anything about him that I didn't personally ask about. All I know about the tracker was that his ability was based off of scent. However, he was able to pick up scents that no one else was able too. From the way it was described to me, he would have even been able to find your scent."

I scoffed loud at the insult. No one's nose is that sensitive. I said nothing, however, letting him finish what he knew.

"Other than that, the only thing Laurent said, and said repeatedly, was that James was rather on the sadistic side. However, I doubt that would be anything to be concerned about since he too was destroyed."

My lips pursed a little as I once again glanced back at my mate, her first feeding flashing through my mind. Yeah, that shouldn't be an issue at all. I nodded slowly once, "I see. Anything else?"

I heard a slight hum. "No, that's it. Our bargain?"

I shrugged. "I have far more important things to deal with than you, Eleazar. Nothing you have said confirms or denies knowledge of you being as stupid as Cullen. You took in a nomad and there is no law against that, so I see no reason to hunt your ass down as of now."

His voice was pensive. "And that's what you'll relate to Aro?"

I smirked. "Are you again calling my upbringing into question, Eleazar? I said a fair exchange. You gave me what I asked for so I will see to it that you stay off Aro's radar for the time being. Should I find out, however, you have not told me everything, I will reconsider my decision. Are we clear?"

"Perfectly, Master Demetri. Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

I thought about it for a moment before I cocked my head. "Yes, actually, there is one thing. Do not tell anyone that I called and do not allow your mate to either. You wouldn't want it to get out that I have done you such a favor as I have. If it does, I will be forced to renege on my end of things and I will be less than thrilled. While we know it to be a favor to a former guard, others might see it as favoritism and you know well we do not show such things. You do see where I am going with this, yes?"

There was a slight smirk in his voice. "Of course. Wouldn't want to tarnish the Volturi name, would we?" There was a little pause before his voice came back, colored in amusement. "Now, please satisfy my horrid curiosity and tell me who you keep calling 'Kitten'."

Now I grinned. I suppose I forgot he knew Greek. Sighing slightly, "My mate of course."

I wasn't surprised that he sounded surprised. "Mate? I hadn't heard you even had a perspective one."

I shrugged. "It's a newer development. She woke up about three hours ago or so."

I chuckled when he let out a light gasp. "Does she have anything to do with your curiosity of the dead tracker?"

I snorted. "Why the fuck else would I care? Now, we have come full circle back to my telling you that this call never happened. You're a smart guy, I have no doubt you'll figure out how to keep it to yourself."

When he groaned, I knew he connected the dots. "So that's what Carlisle was going on about the other day."

My brow cocked. "Care to explain that?"

His voice lowered slightly. "He had called me before the altercation with the newborns, asking for help in the endeavor. However, Irina refused because of the death of Laurent so we decided to stay out of it for her sake since she is still grieving his loss. He called again the day before yesterday in the late afternoon talking in circles about 'they took her'. I assumed he was talking about the ones that were after the girl and Edward had once again done something foolish. I had expected you to be Aro and things to end far differently at the end of the call since there were clear links to my family's knowledge after that. I was assured though that it had been dealt with and that you were aware of the young lady's change date."

I hummed. "Well, you are not the only one that was lead to believe such things. Isabella was as well. However, it seems to me that you have plausible deniability as to her mortality, dissolving you of any wrong doing anyways, something that I will have no problems standing by should it become necessary. You and your coven are in the clear. If he contacts you again, or if any of them do, you are to call myself or Felix immediately if you cannot reach me."

There was another groan. "I would prefer to not get in the middle of this, Master Demetri."

I snickered. "But don't you see, Eleazar? You already are. Besides, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out why he would be calling you. I simply want to know the level of idiocy that I am actually dealing with and not simply the assumed level."

He was silent for a moment, his voice level when he spoke again. "You'll see to Aro?"

I nodded once. "I have to see to something involving Isabella first, but as soon as that is done, I will see to this."

Eleazar sighed, his voice now resigned. "Deal, Demetri."

A very dark smirk came to my lips at his response. "Marvelous. How does it feel, Eleazar, to know you haven't changed as much as you thought you did?"

"Haven't I? Just because the life of my mate and daughters are more of a priority to me than lives that were thrown away doesn't mean that I am not different than I was when we served together."

I chuckled. "Oh, but it does. You left because you couldn't deal with what you deemed senseless violence. Yet here you are, aiding the enemy for personal gain. I personally see no difference. However, how you choose to justify your actions is not my concern. You will do as you have always done and see to the safety of your mate, as any vampire would do. I don't hold your decision against you and you shouldn't either."

There was a self-loathing sounding growl. "He is a friend."

I snorted. "He nearly sentenced you and yours to death. What friend does that? Even I, a self-proclaimed monster, would at least try to keep those that carried some sort of meaning to me safe from my own actions. I stand by my mistakes and don't attempt to take others with me when I go down for them. If he is a friend, then you really don't need any enemies, do you?"

This time his growl was for me. However, there was a knock on the door so I cut off what he was about to say. "Were I you, I would think about that. You used to work for the Devil. You should know what it feels like to make deals with him. Now, I must go. Remember to keep this conversation to yourself for the time being. I will pass on Aro's decision once I speak with him."

With that, I simply closed my phone, leaving him to consider my words as I got up from my seat to answer the door. Not sure if it was Caius or Felix, I took a sniff by the seal of the door before looking over at my mate, who was looking back at me with curiosity.

Smiling at her, I pointed to the chair I just vacated. "I do not know if you caught his scent before or not. To avoid any mishaps, hold your breath. It will be slightly uncomfortable, but it will keep your head from hurting of you didn't smell Felix in the hall."

Isabella lightly bit the corner of her lip, her eyes moving back and forth between me and the door a few times before she nodded and moved to the chair I was pointing to. Once she was sitting down, she curled her legs under her, folded her arms on the arm of the chair and put her nose into the crease of her arms.

Once her red eyes were looking at me again and she nodded that she was ready, I opened the door and stepped to the side to allow Felix to enter, closing the door once he did. It was a little awkward for a moment or two before Isabella cocked a brow at Felix in question as to why he was just staring at her. When she growled at him because he was making her uncomfortable, I smacked him in the back of the head. "Knock it off, Felix."

He cleared his throat and gave his head a little shake. "Sorry. I didn't realize just how much different she looked the last time I saw her."

My lip curled. "You can only see half of her face. How the hell can you tell?" When he shrugged I rolled my eyes before walking over to stand behind the back of the chair Isabella was in. Folding my arms over the back, I cocked my head. "Did you and Alec figure something out for the time being?"

He grunted and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, we came up with an idea, but I don't think she is going to like it much."

She spoke up then, her voice muffled by her arms. "Will it stop what happened before from happening again?"

He nodded and his face pinched up a little. "Yeah, I can promise you that, Stella."

Isabella looked up at me and shrugged. Looking back at her a moment, I turned to Felix. "Well, what's your idea?"

He clicked his tongue once and nodded to my mate. "May I?" When I nodded, he looked at her, moving slowly until he was crouched in front of her. He looked her dead in the eyes and clicked his tongue. "It isn't the most stylish thing for the moment and Alec is still working on a more permanent solution for your nose. This is just something temporary so that you're not confined to Demetri's rooms until your sense of smell levels out some, alright?"

When she nodded once, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a modified version of what looked like a gas mask. When I saw it, the first thing that came to mind was Mortal Kombat and the masks that some of the characters wore.

Isabella grunted at the sight but didn't say anything, so Felix continued. Holding the mask up so she could see it, "What this is going to do is completely neutralize scents in the air, effectively cutting off your sense of smell."

Isabella jolted and I held up a hand. "Okay, you and Alec's idea is to completely cut off a _newborn's_ sense of smell?"

Felix looked up at me and nodded. "For now, yeah. It's the only thing that we could think of on short notice that would allow her to leave this room for any length of time and not end up on the ground because of it. There is literally no place she can go within the palace besides the sublevels and not be bombarded with multiple scents. This is just temporary until we figure out exactly how her gift works and can work with it instead of against it. Besides, I said she wasn't going to like it."

Truth be told, I really wasn't a fan of this either. However, with it being the only option currently on the table to assist her in not having a migraine that ripped her skull apart for now, it was just going to have to be dealt with.

When neither I nor Isabella said anything to him, he rolled his head on his shoulders and looked back at her. "Alright, Stella, don't breathe until I say so."

When she nodded, Felix stretched the wide elastic band and pulled it down over the top of her head, Isabella pulling her ponytail out from under it. Once it was on, he set to work setting it in place over her nose and mouth, tilting her head back to set the fabric in place under her chin and then around the sides of her head.

She was tense, but she didn't put up a fight against him, just sitting there and allowing him to do pretty much whatever he wanted.

After a couple of minutes, Felix turned her head from side to side, making a couple of adjustments before he leaned back and draped his arms over his thighs. He let out a little sigh before looking her in the eyes again. "Okay, couple things. You're not going to like this and it is probably going to freak you the fuck out. However, you need to keep two things in mind. The first is," he pointed to me, "Demetri is right there so nothing is going to happen to you. The other is I'm not going to hurt you. Are you ready?"

I heard Isabella gulp, but she nodded just the same. So, he told her to go ahead and take a breath through her nose. Her reaction was instant and completely expected. She freaked. However, it proved the mask did what it was designed to do.

It was a lot like watching a caged and cornered animal as Isabella scrambled to put distance between herself and the big mother fucker she could see but not smell. When she fell over the arm of the chair, I told Felix not to move and got between them as she pushed herself into the corner made by the wall and the fireplace. Since she was crouched in the corner and Felix was still in his previous position in front of the chair, from her current perspective, I was bigger than he was.

Holding my hands out to the side, standing in a way that she could still see Felix but also knew that he wasn't going to get through me, I looked over at Felix. "Eyes on me, don't stand up, keep your hands visible and back away slowly. You'll scare her even more if she sees how much bigger you are than I am. When you get to the wall, get into the least threatening position you possibly can." Once he started to move back, I refocused on my terrified mate, lowering my voice to a softer tenor than I used with Felix. "Calm down, Gatáki. See, he isn't going to do anything. You're alright, just calm down."

When working with newborns, you can nearly always predict how they will react, respond and behave in nearly every situation. The key is to show them who is in charge at any given moment as soon as you possibly can. In this instance, since I wasn't focused on Felix that showed her I didn't see him as a threat, but since he was backing away from me, he saw me as one. Newborns associate new people through scent and it looks like I was right when I assumed she hadn't caught his before. This is the first time she saw him as a vampire so there was no connection, in her mind, that she had met him before.

I can work with fact that she has always been afraid of him since she didn't know that.

What currently scared her more than anything else was that she was trying to scent the air and getting nowhere with that endeavor. She could clearly see there were two males in the room with her and she couldn't smell either of us. However, if I was right about her gaining my ability to retain and recall, she should be able to pull my scent that she caught when she first woke up and make a connection as to who I was that way since she was far too focused on Felix right now to actually listen to me if I were to just tell her.

Glancing over at Felix and seeing him sitting cross legged on the floor with his hands on his knees, I kicked up the scene of protection and growled at him, warning him to stay put. When he lowered his eyes to the floor in response, I turned my back completely on him and crouched down to Isabella's eyes level, this time cutting Felix out of her line of view. With newborns, it really is out of sight, out of mind.

Locking my eyes on hers when she looked at me, I purred in my chest to try and settle her a little more before I spoke, lowering my voice even more. "Relax, Gatáki. Don't worry about Felix. He isn't going to move an inch until I say he can. Now, you know who I am. Think back to when you first opened your eyes, your very first intake of breath. Think about the different things that made up the first scent you caught."

She was nearly trembling in her terror at the moment, but since I was calm, she settled a little. It was a little odd, but I was able to tell the moment she started to do as I said because her eyes started to glow that really weird pink color again. Her eyes weren't in focus either, the pupils dilating a bit as they shifted around the room. However, when they landed on me again, even though they stayed pink, there was undiluted relief shining in the depths.

She went from being pressed to the wall to curled against my chest in no time flat, my name coming from her in a quiet whimper. I set a hand on the back of her head and the other on the small of her back and nuzzled my nose in her hair a little. "There now, you see? You're alright." Standing and pulling her with me, I continued to hold her tight against my chest and turned to Felix. "You can get up now. Just keep your distance for a few minutes until she gets used to this."

He stood slowly and didn't move off the wall when Isabella whimpered again. I just tightened my hold and looked down at her. "He's not going to do anything, Gatáki. He's big, but that's about it. Besides, you've seen him before. He's been there almost every time I have."

She looked up at me, her eyes confused, before she looked back over to Felix. You could see her limited memories flash before her eyes. Her brow drew down a little and I would bet anything she was biting her lip as she tried to place him in her past. She was quiet when she spoke again, her uncertainty showing in her slow recount of what she thought had happened. "You beat the absolute shit out of that guy that took me away. You helped rescue me."

Felix's confusion was nearly a separate entity in the room. His eyes snapped to me and I flashed him a sinister smirk in response. After a moment, he nodded once while he was still looking at me. "Yeah," moving his eyes to her, "that's right. That was me."

There was a very quiet 'thank you' on the air before Isabella turned her face back into my chest. Felix leaned a little to the side to see if she could see him before he looked back at me, his nose wrinkled and lip curled. There was no sound when his lips moved. "What the fuck?"

I just grinned at him, a small chuckle making my shoulders shake a bit before I shrugged. It wasn't important. What was, was that there was zero doubt left that the manipulation of her memories was successful.


	10. Chapter 10

**DPOV**

The first few days after Isabella woke up went as expected with the added issue of her sense of smell being completely cut off. Her sight and hearing had kicked into overdrive to make up for the loss of her main sense, but as long as noise and light was kept in tolerable measures, she did alright with that. She was very slowly introduced to new people and their scents in an extremely controlled environment over that time and she seemed to now be handling the constrictions I placed on her fairly well.

The first people she was introduced to were the other elite guards since they were the ones she would have the most contact with because one of the constrictions I placed was she wasn't allowed to go running around alone. If she wasn't with me, she was to be with at least one of them. I didn't trust anyone else with her and if I would put my life in their hands and know that they had my back, I knew they would have hers too.

After she was calm around them without being able to smell them, I moved on to the Masters. Surprisingly, they were all rather patient with her. With Caius, I was front and center when she was introduced to him and his scent because that mother fucker was one I would never trust her around without being personally present. However, he just stood there and allowed her the time she needed to get used to him. He didn't say a word when she growled at him when he first came in nor did he pitch a fit when she hissed. Personally, I think it really came down to the fact she was changed and that was that as far he was concerned.

With Aro and Marcus, I oversaw the interaction, but didn't allow her to see me. With Aro, I had Felix present and Alec was there with Marcus. I needed to see if she would actually rely on those two for protection if she was scared and I wasn't there. Likewise, I needed to see how they handled her when she was freaked out and if they were able to calm her back down again. They all did on all counts, Isabella darting behind the present guard when the Masters came into her view, the guard going into a defensive position so she knew she was protected.

With Marcus, he just smiled at her slightly when she snarled at him from behind Alec, standing perfectly still until Alec got her settled down again. Aro, however, looked like a kid in a fucking candy store when he saw what happened when she caught a new scent. Looks like there will be one more thing added to the agenda to talk to him about when this was over and the lines in the sand when it came to my mate. She was in no way one of his little toys and he wouldn't treat her as such.

The reason I had Felix in the room when she met Aro was because I knew he wouldn't be able to resist trying to get close enough to touch her, regardless of the fact his last attempt to read her failed. I hadn't told him shit about her change so there would be no reason he would think that it would work. However, Aro being Aro, tried to anyways, as I knew he would, and Isabella freaked, as I knew she would. Felix responded beautifully in the task of keeping Aro back and my mate's fear in check, as I knew he would. In the end, everything went as well as could be expected and Isabella knew the people that were currently important enough for her to know.

After that was done, I spent a little time working with her and learning exactly how her gift actually worked so that Alec, Felix and Jeff could then begin to figure out a way to control her sense of smell instead of having it completely cut off. It didn't take long to learn the basics. I already knew she could recall any scent she caught at any time of her choosing. What I was after was other details such as distance and how she went about finding her target.

That was an interesting discovery.

It seemed to me that her distance was as long as was needed to find who she was after. However, unlike with my gift and just knowing where they are, she saw a pink fog like hue in the air that led her to who she was looking for. She was able to physically see recent scent trails that normal vampires can only smell. However, unlike me, she was also able to find out where someone was without actually meeting them first. I found that out because I was curious what would happen if she caught an unknown scent off of someone else. Turned out, she had no problems locating the owner of the scent no matter where they were. If she focused on that particular scent, her eyes went out of focus and, after a moment, she could tell you exactly what the owner of the scent was doing.

I also found out that once she caught one, there was no pain to recall it, only to retain it. That was just something she was going to have to get used to and grow into. Just like with my gift, it was involuntary on her part to retain the scents. She wasn't able to pick and choose if she wanted her gift to work. We found out that her nose was so sensitive she was able to pick up scents that no one else, myself included, could pick up. From what I got from Eleazar about the other tracker and what I knew of my own gift, it appeared that she had a nearly perfect combination of the two tracking abilities.

The only thing I couldn't figure out was why her eyes turned pink when she was using her gift. It didn't matter what she was doing with it. If she was retaining a new scent, recalling one she knew or locating the owner of whatever scent she was focused on, they always glowed pink and if her nose was covered, they glowed brighter. The only thing I could come up with was it had to do with the fact she could actually see the scent in the air. It didn't seem to hurt her and when she was told her eyes were pink, she indicated she didn't notice. Since it didn't bother her, I didn't see a reason to dig for the cause. It really didn't matter anyways since figuring out why it was happening wouldn't actually stop it from happening.

Her feeding schedule was kept absolute with no variation. She was fed every five hours like clockwork but it seemed that she had also inherited the more sadistic nature of the other tracker because no matter how many there were, she wasn't satisfied unless she completely destroyed the bodies. It almost seemed like she was feeding off the violence as much as she was off the blood itself, if not more so.

For the most part, Isabella was your typical newborn. She was temperamental, emotional and quick to flip the script on how she acted. One minute she would be relaxed and calm the next she wanted to kill someone. It was all normal and easy to deal with. There wasn't anyone she seemed to have any actual issues with, she was just an infant and acted like one. It didn't take a lot to calm her back down and it never came to getting overly rough with her. There were times she had to be restrained before she actually hurt someone, but again, that was normal.

The 'for the most part' came in when it came to her nerves. She was really fucking jumpy. However, when you take away a newborn's main sense that is to be expected. She rarely didn't have her nose covered, wearing the mask she was given the day she woke up more often than not, only taking it off when she was in our room. Since it didn't take long for newborns to adjust to different things, she had gotten used to not being able to smell so when she could and caught a scent, she jumped every single time. Likewise, when she was wearing it, because she couldn't smell someone behind her or around the corner, she jumped when she saw them.

However, I was positive that once Felix and Alec finished figuring out how to allow her to scent the air and not getting overloaded with scents when she did it, she would be fine and that jumpiness would level out.

It was now her fourth day awake and I had things that I had to see to that I let go for days longer than I should have. So, with a sigh, I pushed myself off my chair and turned to my mate who was laid on the bed with my earphones to my iPod in her ears with her eyes closed. Walking over to the foot of the bed, I leaned over her with a hand on either side of her head. The dipping of the mattress called her attention to me and she opened her eyes, her eyes lighting up a bit when she saw me as she chirped. "Hey."

I just smiled back her with a little chuckle as I flicked one of the earbuds out her ear. "Hi." Then I cocked my head a little and lightly grabbing the front of her mask, giving it a little shake. "You know you don't have to wear this in here. The only scents you're going to catch are ones you already know."

She batted my hand away from her face and you could tell she was wiggling her nose to get her mask back in its proper position. "I know, but it doesn't feel right to not have it on anymore. I get more tense without it than I do with it. It's like, um, I know more what to expect with it on than I do with it off. I know there are people around, I can hear them perfectly. I just can't really tell where they are. When I don't wear it, I can't hear as well so I have a harder time telling if anyone is around."

My lips pursed a little at that tidbit of information. It wasn't all that surprising that she would compensate in such a way due to the loss of one of her main senses. The problem with that lied in the fact she didn't miss said main sense. She should want the mask off as soon as she was able to take it off, but it seemed that she would rather rely on her hearing than her nose. It was something that could be worked with pretty easy and wasn't a huge deal. However, I cocked a brow at her. "I see. I can teach you to hone your hearing so you can tell where people are, but you do know that you'll have to use your nose eventually, right? When you get older, you won't be able to function properly without it. Plus," This time when I grabbed the front of her mask, I pulled it down so it was around her neck. "I would like to see your whole face from time to time."

She smiled at me and I winked at her. "Now, I have to head downstairs to see to a few things that I have put off as long as I can. I should be back by the time your meal shows up. However, if I'm not, Alec will come and escort you down."

Her brow drew down and she frowned a little. "You're leaving?"

I sighed a little and nodded once. "I have to, Gatáki. I need to speak with Aro for a few minutes and then I have to see to replacing the guards I killed last week that I still haven't done and you're not ready to be around that many vampires at once yet."

She looked up at me through her lashes. "We don't know for sure until I try."

I clicked my tongue. "I do know that for sure, but I will rephrase if needed. I don't want you around that many unmated male vampires until our bond is complete." When she looked down again, I hummed slightly. "Hey," she looked back up, "it's only a couple of more days. Believe me, you're not the only one that doesn't like it but some things can't be rushed, Gatáki, and this is one of them. Trying to do so isn't something that ever ends well. My venom from your change is still working to overtake your blood and make your organs obsolete. I told you that nothing in this life was instant and took time. Until everything that makes you human is dead, you are, still, sort of alive. Completing and cementing our bond means more venom is needed and adding that to what is still working will do nothing but kick up the pain of the change again and I'm not willing to do that to you."

She grunted with a wince at the mention of the pain of the change and I can't blame her. Her's was one of the worst pain wise I have been witness to over the years because of the plate she had in her head. It wouldn't last as long because for the most part she was done with the change, but it could still be bad.

After a moment, she sighed and shook her head a little. "I just don't like being alone. It's too quiet."

At that I pursed my lips and hummed again. "Well, how about this. Since you prefer to wear your mask, put it on when I leave and open the balcony doors. You'll be able to hear the guards on the grounds without being bombarded with scents."

"And the humans?"

I cocked my head to the side. "I'm not concerned about the humans. You haven't reacted to their heartbeats before and I doubt you'll do so now. Just, keep your mask on until you eat again and you'll be fine." She sighed a little and nodded, but she wasn't happy about this. I pressed my lips together and hummed in my throat. "I know you don't like it, Gatáki. I'm not really a fan either. However, there are times in life you have to do things you either don't like or want to do. Think of it this way; the sooner I get this done, the less time I have to leave. In three days, I am taking the rest of your newborn year off from duty, but in order for me to have that ability, I have to make sure that I get what needs done, done. After that, there is nothing that I will have to do that you cannot be present for."

She looked up at me with a drawn yet resigned expression, nodding slightly. Giving her a smile, I dipped my nose and nuzzled her's. "That's my girl." Pulling back, I smirked. "Stay on the balcony and I'll see you soon."


	11. Chapter 11

**BPOV**

After Demetri left to do whatever it was he had to do, I stayed on the bed, in the same spot, still completely flabbergasted at the fact he just kissed me. Sure, there had been little pecks to my nose or knuckles, but he hadn't actually _kissed_ me before. If what just happened was any indication as what was going to come in three days... I wanted a fucking time machine.

It took me a few minutes before I got passed the shock and rolled over onto my stomach, staring at the door, nearly praying he would return, even knowing he wouldn't until he was done with whatever it was he was seeing to. Slowly I ran my tongue over my lips, the lingering flavor of rain coating my taste buds, an appreciative hum sounding from my throat.

Biting into my bottom lip, I sighed and shook my head. I didn't understand what he was talking about before, about it being a bad thing to go too far too fast. He talked like it would hurt, even said as much, but there was no pain with that.

Blowing a puff of air from my lips, I pushed myself up, moving to the side of the bed. Instead of getting up, I just sat there, letting the tortuous memory of his lips on mine caress my thoughts once again. It seemed more like he just didn't want to than he couldn't. I didn't let that thought fester long before I shook my head. No, that wasn't the case. It was as he said, it had to be. With the look in his eyes before he left, there was no way that that stray thought held any merit.

With one last glance to the door, I stood and walked to the double glass doors, looking out into the gardens that were just on the other side of the railing. I watched the birds dance amongst the trees, swooping and diving around each other without a care in the world. Humming slightly, I grabbed Demetri's spare cloak that was hanging over the back of a chair and slipped it on. After taking a deep breath and inhaling his scent, I replaced my mask over my face, doing minor adjustments so it was situated properly before I pushed the doors open when I could no longer smell anything.

Raising the hood over my hair, I stepped outside, squinting against the light. It was far brighter out here than it looked from inside. Once I was no longer blinded by the light, I went to the railing, setting my hands on it and leaning over to see what was going on below me. I cocked my head to the side when I saw a group of guards and a pack of dogs in the grass. They had dogs here? Letting myself think of that a little, I guess it made sense. I mean, any large estate would have guards that were accompanied by them. One thing I have learned over the last few days was Aro was all about appearance and extremely conscious of the outside world and their thoughts about what went on behind the ten foot wall. I also knew there were patrols of the city itself and there would need to be a reason that the guards assigned to do so knew that there was something going on that was out of human's normal hearing range.

Shrugging and dismissing them, I turned my attention to the city that I could see over the wall since I was a good fifteen feet above it. Between the buildings, I could see humans milling about, going about their lives like there wasn't a den of vampires living amongst them. I could hear laughter, a roar of voices that were too jumbled to make out what they were saying. I could also hear their hearts beating. It was a soothing sound, a soft lullaby and hum within the noise.

It wasn't the beating that made my throat flare, it was the knowledge of what it represented, what it did, that lit that fire. I cleared my throat, the action doing nothing to cool the flames. Quickly, I turned away from it. Since there was no scent of blood to go along with it, I was able to pull myself away from it, but only because I distanced myself from it. I knew I was going to get in trouble for leaving the balcony without someone with me, but I wasn't thinking clearly as I lept from the railing to an overhang and then from there into the trees on the other side of the garden.

Landing on a branch, I climb up into the thicker coverage of the leaves. Reaching the highest branch that could support me, I sat and pulled my knees to my chest, plugging my ears and humming as loud as I could to drowned it out. My head was down and my eyes were closed, cutting off everything I had to know what was in my surroundings. I repeatedly took deep breaths of scentless air, trying to convince myself that there was nothing around me.

I didn't know exactly how much trouble I would be in if I gave in, and I certainly didn't want to find out.

*X*

I didn't know how much time passed as I sat in that tree, one leg hanging down and the other on the branch for balance. I had an arm draped over my knee and the other resting on my thigh, my head leaned back again the trunk as I looked through the leaves at the sky before me. I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings so I didn't realize when it was I was no longer alone.

I jumped slightly, but looked to the ground when I heard a throat clear below me. Glancing through the branches, I saw Marcus standing there, looking back up at me. I didn't say anything to him and he also stayed silent for a long moment before I heard a quiet sigh.

His voice was friendly and light. "I had thought you were not allowed to be running around the grounds on your own just yet." Though he couldn't see it due to my mask, I bit my lip, a slight nod in response. He clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his head. "Then might I ask what you are doing out here on your own?"

I sighed and lifted a shoulder. "Sitting in a tree."

He nodded. "I see that." What he did next surprised me since I had only ever heard of him keeping to himself. He actually leapt up into the branches and took up residence in one slightly below me. Once he was settled, he looked up at me. "I will be honest. I do not see the allure." I smiled a little behind my mask as he shifted a bit. He then looked back at me. "You seem troubled and with one your age, that is something to be avoided. Do you care to tell me what has you so knotted? Perhaps one that is not so close to the issues can give you a little perspective that maybe you have not thought of."

I looked into his deep red eyes and thought about the offer. What could it really hurt to get a different opinion on what I keep going around in circles about? Besides, he was one of the rulers. Wasn't it his job or some shit to do this? Might as well make him earn his paycheck today. So, I told him everything I had been running through my mind about this thing between Demetri and I. There were times he couldn't make eye contact with me and, admittedly, I wasn't as girly about some of the things I said as I probably should have been, but hey, whatever.

When I got to the discussion we had just before he left and the fact that when he kissed me the pain he talked about wasn't there, thus contradicting what was said, Marcus hummed and nodded slowly while I shook my head and look at my knees. "I guess I just don't understand."

Marcus was silent for a time, letting everything I just dropped on him run his thoughts before he looked at me again. "I can understand that. The year following a transformation is extremely confusing and often times can seemingly contradict itself. I can assure you, however, that this time it did not. Allow me to clear this up for you. A show of affection is not the same as cementing a bond between mates. What Demetri was referring to before was, when you two become bonded mates, there is another bite involved which will introduce more of his venom into your veins. Regardless of how much there already is, foreign venom does still burn the system that it does not belong to. He did tell you that it takes nearly a full week for your entire inside body to become dead, didn't he?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he said that but I don't get that either."

He chuckled. "There is a lot in a human's body that humans need and we do not. It takes quite a bit of time for everything to die and decay. While venom has no problem traversing the veins, it has a harder time seeping into organ tissues and the like. The three days it takes to get through the worst of it is only venom destroying your blood and redesigning your DNA. Everything else happens after you wake and your movements keep the venom circulating.

"Now, as far as cementing a bond goes, though there is very little venom needed to finish the job, it does take some and the more there is, the more pain it causes the female. You two could finish your bond tonight but the pain it would cause you to do so is something that Demetri refuses to bestow upon you. That is not something worthy of faulting him for. It is his job to protect you from harm and pain, not be the one to cause it. Patience is a virtue, Young Lady. Do not be in such a rush. Good things come to those who wait."

He paused a moment before he continued. "I do not make this common place, but let's put your mind at ease, Isabella. Now, even before your bond is fully established, it is a very strong one. Do not fear or think that there is anything wrong. Demetri is over two thousand year old and has learned not to rush things that shouldn't be. Relax and just let things happen. You will not be disappointed."

I opened my mouth to respond when there was a hell of a commotion. Both Marcus and I snapped to attention when the sounds of frantic voices carried on the breeze to us. My eyes widened when I heard my name and I looked down at Marcus. "I got to go. I am in so much trouble."

Before he could say anything, and as rude as I knew it was, I just dropped from the tree and looked across the gardens to where I could hear both Demetri and Alec. When their voices got louder, I knew they were on their way here. I didn't even attempt to move, knowing it was pointless to try and get back to Demetri's room. He already knew I wasn't there.


	12. Chapter 12

**DPOV**

I was finally starting to make some headway with the newer vampires of the guard when Alec came into the training room and I knew from the look on his face I wasn't going to like what he had to say, but I never would have guessed that he was there to tell me my mate was gone and her scent vanished on the balcony.

I had never felt fear like that before. It was so intense that I was actually unable to concentrate well enough to use my gift to find her, something else that had never happened. I said nothing as I darted from the room, Alec on my heels. I had to give it him though, he sure as hell tried to keep up. I was on the other side of the palace from my room and didn't slow or pause for anything on the dash, even slamming into a wall when I took a turn too fast due to my foot sliding on a rug.

It wasn't until I was in my room that I calmed, finding her scent was still fresh in the air. Allowing the knowledge that she was here not long ago, a few hours but still not long, I was able to settle and focus. There was also no other scents that couldn't be explained and that aided in that endeavor. I moved out the open balcony doors and did in fact find out that her scent was indeed gone, blown away by the wind. However, since I wasn't drowning in fear any longer, finding her was a piece of cake. She wasn't far and still within the grounds, but she wasn't where she knew she was to stay.

Fear morphing to relief and reserved anger, I hurtled the railing, landing a little too close to the dogs and scaring the shit out of them, Alec landing right next to me. When I started her way, I took my time to give myself time to calm down for a different reason. I wanted to make sure there was a very good fucking reason she was where she was before I got mad.

When Alec and I got closer to where she was, I saw her standing at the base of a tree. She looked like she was fine and that was the biggest concern I had. However, I still wasn't happy. Ten feet from her, I spoke, trying to keep my ire out of my voice. "Are you alright?" When she nodded, I let my anger show. "Then what the hell are you doing out here by yourself?"

I heard her take a breath to answer, but before she could, someone else did.

"She is not."

My eyes snapped up to the tree and followed the body as it fell and landed next to my mate, shock sliding down my spine. "Master Marcus?"

He looked smug if I had to name it. "The Young Lady has been with me the entire time. We had a wonderful little conversation. If you care to be angry with anyone, reserve it for me. She has done nothing wrong."

When I saw Isabella's eyes widen, I knew that was a load of bullshit. However, I wasn't about to argue and was still going to get the real reason she was here. Still, I nodded to Marcus. "Apologies, Master Marcus. I hadn't known she was in the company of anyone."

He shrugged and turned to walk away. "Then perhaps, next time you will have all the information before you get upset." He paused and turned to Isabella with an actual smile on his face. "It was very nice to get a little more acquainted, Stella." He then turned to me. "You are very lucky, Demetri. I suggest you don't fuck it up."

 ***X***

The days following the incident and the most horrific scare of my very long life, I was far less inclined to allow my mate out of my sight. While she did eventually tell me the reason she was where she was, I was still a little upset with her over it. I could understand her reasons but that didn't negate the fact she went against my wishes and ran around the grounds by herself.

So, because of that, I had Felix condition the recruits for evaluation. He was just as qualified to do it as I was, so I saw no issues with him getting them ready.

The evaluation was set for the morning, but tonight was number seven since my mate woke up. At this moment, she was in the bathtub soaking while we waited for Heidi to return. Besides the obvious as to why I was looking forward to this evening, Isabella was actually going to dine in the main hall with others present, just to see how she acts. No one had the highest hopes for her and there not being some poor bastard that loses a limb, but at a week old, it was time to at least begin the drawn out task of getting her used to multiple vampires at once. It was for my peace of mind that no unmated males would be present.

Alec and Felix had also come up with a permanent solution to Bella's sense of smell that would both allow her to scent the area without getting overwhelmed but was also another mask so it was within her comfort level. Instead of cutting off her sense, it dulled it. She was still able to catch every scent around her, but it was far less strong. To put into perspective just how sensitive her nose is, when Felix covered his own nose with it, he couldn't smell anything. However, when Bella put it on and took a breath, she could tell you everything on the air. Alec still wanted to play around with it a little more, but for now, it would allow her to be around more than one person at a time and not affect her as badly as before.

As far as Bella went, I knew she was harboring something that depressed her, but she wouldn't tell me what it was and no amount of pressing on my part would sway her to do so. She would just shrug the questions off or ignore them altogether so I quit trying. Whatever it was I was sure would either work itself out or she would eventually tell me what was bothering her. At least I hoped so. It wasn't like I could force her to talk about something she didn't want to nor would I. Everyone was entitled to secrets and she was no different.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of my phone ringing. Glancing at the bathroom door a moment, I picked it up, flipped it open and put it to my ear without looking at the screen. "Demetri."

There was a slight moment's pause before the voice of Eleazar sounded in my ear. "I just had a very interesting conversation that I thought you might be interested in."

I settled in my seat and cocked a brow at no one. "Oh? And what was that?"

"Carlisle called, asking for my family's aid in their endeavor of retrieving Ms. Swan. It seems that the explanation of her disappearance did not got over well with a few... others and they are being held accountable for it. If they cannot produce a living, breathing, _human_ Isabella, they will be facing serious consequences."

I chuckled low in my throat. "You speak of the dogs, am I right?"

There was a quiet, contemplative hum. "I suppose them as well, but they are not who I am referring to. Her father is a high ranking law official and wants his daughter back. He last knew her to be with Alice making the Cullens the prime targets in the investigation of her vanishing. It would only be a matter of time before they are discovered to not be humans if Mr. Swan digs deep enough into their backgrounds. From what I could gather from his frantic words, they are of the minds that if they show up with enough backing, she will be returned to them once again."

Right, like that shit was going to happen. I snorted. "Took them long enough. Not that it really matters, but do you have a timeframe for me?"

"Not long I would imagine. Though nothing concrete, I am to assume they will be heading your way as soon as they are able. Every moment they wait is a moment closer to discovery. I cannot assume her father will stop simply because they ask him to. I wouldn't stop until I found one of my girls were they to vanish as she did."

I nodded. I didn't doubt that for a moment. However, "Why did it take so long for her to be discovered as missing in the human world, I wonder. She has been here for over a week."

"That I couldn't begin to guess at, Demetri. I haven't the slightest idea and I didn't want to ask."

I hummed and nodded. "Very well. It still matters little. By the time they arrive, there will be absolutely nothing left of the girl they once knew."

"And what of her father?"

I shrugged. "Nothing for you to be concerned about. I'll deal with him in accordance to his knowledge as I would anyone else. His fate lays in the Cullen's hands. If they were smart enough to cover their asses, he'll live. If not, his blood will be on their hands. My mate's father or not, he will see no special treatment."

"I wouldn't dare think otherwise. If I hear anything else, I will be sure to let you know. However, for now, that is all I have."

I smirked wide. "More than enough. And now for my end. I have spoken with Aro. You and your family are in the clear. He seemed to agree wholeheartedly with me that you were simply doing what you had to to protect yours. Something he can find no fault in. Since there is no indication that you actually saw Isabella with your own eyes as a human, he sees no reason to assume you had first hand knowledge of her. He agreed that simply taking in a nomad, that you didn't know could have been an exposure risk, is no cause for punishment. Also, he wished me to convey his condolences to your youngest on the loss of her mating interest. If there is anything he can do in aiding her in her mourning, do not hesitate to let him know."

He snorted, his voice cynical. "I see he is as gracious as ever."

"I would be careful, Eleazar. He can still change his mind on your fate. No matter our deal, his word is still my orders."

He sighed and I knew there was a probably a nod on his part as well. "Of course. I meant no disrespect." After a short pause he came back on and his voice was pensive. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Demetri?"

I hummed but shook my head. "Nope. However, a word to the wise; If I were you, I would stay out of this from this point on, Eleazar. If Cullen contacts you again, I would suggest you ignore it, or at the very least, deny whatever he asks. This is going to come to blows and you do you not want to choose sides."

He grunted an agreement. "No, I do not."

A lightly cleared throat behind me pulled me from my conversation to my mate where she stood in the doorway to the bathroom, a very sheepish look on her face and scrap cloth in her hands that was once a towel. She bit her lip and looked at me through her lashes. "I ripped it."

I just blinked at her. Not because she ripped a towel, she did that all the time, but because she held the two pieces in her hands that were held out to the sides to show me what she did leaving her completely uncovered. My mouth went dry as my eyes followed a water drop as it slid down her body starting at her neck. When it reached the dip of her hip, I swallowed hard and spoke into the phone. "I have to go. Remember what I said."

Saying nothing else, I closed my phone and set it on the table next to me never taking my eyes off that drop of water. I was so focused on that that when I heard my name, I didn't look back up, just hummed slightly in question. When she said my name again with a little more force to it, my eyes snapped back up to her face. "What?"

Her brows were drawn and her face was slightly concerned. "Are you alright?"

Once more my eyes roamed her form before I looked back up at her and nodded. "Couldn't be better."

She blinked at me once before looking down, her eyes going wide, a squeak of 'Oh, my God' soundin into the room as she brought her arms together so the two pieces of towel covered her. When she looked back at me, her face was covered in mortification. "Why didn't you say anything?"

I grinned at her as I stood up. "Why the hell would I?" Darting across the room, I forced her to turn so her back was pressed against the door jam. I set one hand above her head and used the other to grab the towel pieces in her hands and jerk them out of her grip. "I'm not that nice." Isabella looked down at her hands where she held only tiny bits of cloth before moving her eyes to the rest of the towel that now laid on the floor at her feet. I set my hand on the side of her neck I bit a week ago. Using my thumb to push her head back up to look at me, I dipped my head at the same time. Butting noses with her once, I then captured her lips with mine for only the second time since she woke up.

For that reason, there was a surprised intake of air on her part as her body tensed slightly. Her shock only lasted a moment before it melted away, her body relaxing near completely. Her movements here hesitant and unsure as she dropped the towel pieces she still held and lightly set her hands against my chest. When she closed her fingers on my shirt, her nails ripped the fabric causing her to pull back with a gasp. She looked first at my shredded shirt before her eyes snapped back up to mine. "I'm so sorry."

I chuckled lightly as I pulled my shirt off and threw it off to the side. Stepping closer to her, I set both hands on her hips and smirked down at her. "That's not going to be the only shirt I lose to you, Gataki."

She gasped again as I pulled her flush against me, her hands once again pressing against my now bare chest. "It's not?"

I chuckled and dipped my head, gently nuzzling my nose to her's. "Not even close."

I pulled back slightly and locked eyes with her. Her eyes said she was hungry, but feeding her right this second was the furthest thing from my mind.


	13. Chapter 13

**BPOV**

Throwing the body in my hands away from me, I growled in my throat as recent events danced across my mind. How could he just... leave? Just like that? His phone rings and without a word he just takes off with barely sparing me a glance. What the fuck? I mean, I know I'm not the most versed in sex or whatever, but every movie I have ever seen, every book I have ever read, there seems there should have been more... intimacy to follow than what I got.

Standing in the middle of my selfmade chaos, I let my eyes roam the room, taking in the puddles of blood and scattered body parts, hoping that would make me feel better, but it didn't. It just made me long to do much the same to him. A tremor danced my spine at the thought, my stomach revolting against it.

Son of a bitch!

I can't even bring myself to envision hurting the bastard.

With another growl, I dropped right where I stood, in a sizable pool of crimson, and crossed my arms with a glare. There was a whimper to my left and, without even looking, I picked up a random forearm and threw it in the general direction of the sound, chuckling in my throat at the 'thunk' it made before the room fell silent once again. I knew I wasn't alone. I never was since the last time I 'wondered off'. However, Alec wasn't currently a very high care of mine.

Though I had the brief moment of curiosity as to why it was him and not Felix since the huge mother fucker was Demetri's normal choice of babysitter, I didn't dwell on it too long. I was sure that if Alec was picked there was a reason, but I also refused to let myself really hold that thought for long because if Felix wasn't available for babysitting duty, there was some shit going down somewhere, and that would mean Demetri's abrupt departure wouldn't hold grounds to be pissed off about.

I was well aware of his position, and what all it entailed, but still, we were in the middle of something, damn it. That would, if nothing else, warrant a brief explanation I would think. Or, at least, more than the look of sheer annoyance he had when he left.

I looked up to the rafters when I heard a throat clear, but said nothing. I had nothing to say, so if Alec wanted to talk, he was gonna start this conversation.

He looked down at me, his red eyes shining as he took in the mess I made of the room and myself, an amused smirk on his face that transferred to his voice when he spoke. "You seem upset, Stella."

I sniffed at him before dropping my eyes, kicking a foot out and knocking a head across the room like a damn toddler. "Oh, no. I'm just fucking peachy."

I heard him snort, "Clearly", drawing my attention back up to him. Though I didn't think it was possible, his eyes were warm and his face was inviting. His voice, though, was still a little cynical. "But, we can't have a pissed off newborn running around, so indulge me. What's wrong?"

Nope!

Averting my eyes, I shook my head. I wasn't having this conversation, again, with another guy. Why couldn't Demetri entrust my safety with a female? I mean, if Jane was busy or something, there was always Luna. She seemed nice enough, and certainly had my safety in mind. Not just anyone would have the balls to attempt to bite Demetri in my defense, and she did. When Alec prompted me again, I shook my head harder, refusing to say a word. It was bad enough in my head. I wasn't about to put it out there, to one of Demetri's friends no less, that I kinda wanted to kill him. It would, without doubt, get back to the asshole, and that was the last thing I wanted.

Alec, however, didn't seem to care. He dropped from the rafters and landed two feet from me, the blood he landed in splashing beneath his feet, and crouched with his hands draped over his thighs. His face again told me I could tell him what was going on, I just wasn't sure I could trust it.

I groaned in my throat, knowing I wasn't getting out of the conversation, even if I were to attack. I wouldn't win, something I was well aware of, but it certainly crossed my mind. Brushing my blood soaked hair out of my face, I let out a breath and shook my head. "He... He just left. Just like that. No word. No warning. No nothing. He just got up and left."

I watched him blink, the corner of his lip curling. "Demetri?"

My face went completely flat, as did my voice. "No. Fucking Felix." He looked like he felt dumb at that moment. Good. "Of course Demetri. Who else?"

He lifted a shoulder. "Apparently Felix." I made a noise in my throat and he held up his hands. "Okay, not a joking matter. I get it. What exactly happened, Stella?"

Me head fell back on my shoulders and I groaned. I didn't wanna talk about this. I was so far beyond uncomfortable, and it made me twitchy. Still, knowing he wasn't gonna let it go, I sighed. "He left. We were... in bed, his phone rang, and he left without a fucking word... AGAIN!"

I knew the moment it dawned him what I meant. His eyes went slightly wider and one hand came up and covered his mouth. He took a moment before he said anything. "Timing, Stella, very rarely falls in line with our desires. While I can't speak for that particular... scenario, you have to understand there is something pretty serious going on right now, and his job dictates his actions, not necessarily his desires."

I frowned. "But, if that's the case, why not just say so?"

Alec shrugged, his voice matter of fact. "He can't. Demetri gets away with a lot, far more than the rest of us, but he still has his own set of rules he is expected to follow. You're his mate, and while I'm sure he doesn't like the fact there are things he can't tell you, until the situation is more under our control and less under someone else', it's for your safety he keeps his mouth shut. Sorry for the expression, but you are a baby in our world, and are subject to massive mood swings and diving in without thinking shit through. You don't know how to do that yet, and no one expects you to. What is expected for you to know is that if there is something you absolutely need to know, he will tell you. Until then, Stella, you have to cut him some slack. He has been doing this for nearly two thousand years, and he's really good at it."

I blinked at him. I was sure at some point I knew the number of years Demetri has been a guard, but it wasn't a piece of information I had readily available to compare to our seven days. I knew how old he was, but I didn't know he was a guard nearly as long as he's been a vampire. In that respect, I guess Alec had a point. He had been doing his job for a really long time to get as good at it as he was, so I supposed I could give him more time to integrate something new into his everyday life. It was grudgingly, but I nodded. "I guess, in the respect of two thousand years compared to seven days, this might take some time, too."

To my shock, Alec shook his head. "Not necessarily, and not under normal circumstances. Like I said, there is some shit about to go down, and it involves you. If he has to give up some cuddles in order to ensure there is a future time to have that with you, he's going to do it. You bare his full mark now, meaning whatever morals he might have had prior to this afternoon are gone. Demetri is nothing short of a fucking demon trapped on Earth under the best of situations. This? This isn't one of those. There are others that think to overstep themselves and he's not going to stand back and let that happen. Hell is coming to Earth, Stella, and you bare the mark of the Devil."

While I was trying to come to grips what what he just said, Alec seemed to look for others in the room, his eyes searching every corner and crack, before he looked back at me, his voice lowering to a whisper so quiet I almost couldn't hear him. "I'm going to let you in on a very closely guarded secret, Bella, something very few know. Demetri runs this shit. He might not sit on a throne, but he doesn't have to."

Somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a spark, words in Demetri's voice floating up and making me blink. "He said that once I think. He said there were only a handful or so that are loyal to Aro over him. You were on that list."

Alec shook his head. "No, I would sooner put myself between a threat and Demetri than I would Aro. Demetri has saved my life many, many times, Aro never has. He has, though, put me in the position to die, and had it not been for Demetri, I probably would have. Mark my words on this; someday, we will no longer answer to three kings. We will answer to only one, and it will be the one being no one, human or supernatural, will ever be able to hide from. As for what happened today, you need to understand something. When Demetri makes a decision, makes a choice, it's done like," he snapped his fingers, "that. No second second guess, no additional thought, no changing his mind. There is, very likely, no greater strategic mind out there, bar maybe two. So, without knowing what happened on the other side of that phone call, can you really be mad about how he left?"

I looked at him a short moment, filing what he said away for later evaluation, and decided to question him instead. "Do you know what the call was about?"

To my shock, he nodded and, to my greater shock, he answered. "Security breach. Someone tripped the alarm when they came into the palace and didn't have permission to do so. All of us Elites got that call. Outsiders assume just because Aro refuses to keep up with the times this place isn't locked down tighter than a virgin's knees. We have far more than a handful of camera covering the outside entrances. No one comes or goes without someone knowing, and that someone is Demetri."

I cocked a brow. "Then how did Demetri not know I left the other day?"

"There was no need to have that particular alarm set because that is, or was, Demetri's room. But, next time you're in there, look at the wall by the bathroom, and you'll see the counsel. This place is wired for sound, Stella, and that is information we don't tell anyone for very obvious reasons."

I jolted. "You want people to break in."

He locked his eyes on mine. "It makes it a lot easier when the condemned come to us. We control everything in this city. Nothing is done on the terms of others within our home. What these intruders are about to find out is, you can get in, but there is no way back out."

I bit my lip. "And, you know who these people are?"

Alec nodded. "We do."

I glanced off to the side a moment before looking back. "And you said they are here for me?"

He nodded again. "They are."

I nodded once and stood, pulling my mask up from my neck to cover my nose. Once it was back in place, I looked at Alec again. "Then it would be rude to keep them waiting."


	14. Chapter 14

**DPOV**

The idiocy of this coven truly knows no bounds. Who the fuck in their right minds tries to break into the lion's den? This is a place you try and break out of, not willingly walz into when you know good and god damn well your ass is in trouble. Let's add to my annoyance by them doing this ridiculous stunt when I was in bed with my mate, gearing up for round four.

I'm going to kill every last one of them.

Reaching the rendezvous point, I waited for Jane to catch up with me, nodding at Felix who was already there. When the little imp finally caught up, she looked around, questioning where her brother was. Glancing at her, I then looked at my watch. "He's with Isabella. Okay, they have had 97 seconds of free reign within the tunnels since they are now too close to pinpoint their exact location. If they haven't gotten themselves turned all the fuck around and somehow managed to stay a straight course, they will be moments from emerging in the underground level closest to the pit."

Felix's eyes shifted to the hall that would lead to that area of the grounds. "So, what's the plan then?"

I grinned. "Aro wants them taken to the main chamber, but we're going to herd these mother fuckers to where I want them first. They're here for my mate? Well, they are going to have to get through me and my guards first."

Jane made a face. "But, if Aro wants them in the main chamber, we should take them there. And, we're his guards."

I snorted. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Jane. Besides, he only said he wanted them alive. He never said shit about in how many pieces. The main chambers isn't big enough."

Jane and Felix glanced at each other for a moment before Felix crossed his arms. "Training floor? It should still be full."

Not finalizing that, I lifted my brows, in a clear indication of my liking. Walking backwards, I looked at each of the other guards. "Watch out for the empath and make no final decisions. Fly by your ass and confuse the mind reader. Remember, they broke into our home. That is a slight against The Masters."

I do believe Jane forgot just how good my hearing is, and I don't think she meant for me to hear her.

"The Masters? Felix?"

I heard Felix's voice respond to her. "He's a Master, too, Jane. He's our boss, even if he never pulls rank."

"He isn't mine."

There was a quiet snort. "Really? Then disobey and run to Aro. See who Aro sides with, you or him."

Pausing, I wanted to see if she would do just that. I didn't have to see her to know. I was so attuned to her I knew where she was without even trying anymore. She did wait a moment after Felix left her to do as he was told, but after what I was sure was a serious debate with herself, she finally headed deeper into the tunnels under the palace, to do what I told her to do.

Yeah, I'm not your master at all, Little Jane.

Shaking my head, I continued my course, heading the coven off at the pass, forcing them to go a different direction, where Felix would be waiting. The only one of the coven that would be of any issue was the Major, but I had this strange feeling he wouldn't pose much of an active threat.

*X*

Once the Cullens were left with no choice in where they were going, I took a hidden shortcut to the Training Floor, deciding to kill two birds with one stone. Throwing the doors open, I strolled in, head held high when all eyes landed on me. Letting my eyes roam the floor, I pulled three necklaces from the inner pocket of my jacket.

Holding the charms up by their chains to show them off, I spoke in an even, unraised voice. "Your Masters have been disgraced, by a pathetic excuse for a coven who have decided The Laws of the Land do not apply to them. I need three new Level Two guards. There are no less than seven intruders within these walls. The first three who present me a head, receives a Jewel under Afton's Crest. Should one bring me the live head of the Mind Reader, I will give that vampire the chance to train for future consideration of elevation to Elite status, something you all know well I never give to anyone who has served less than a thousand years."

Jane's words floating through my mind, and I grinned as I crossed my arms. "Master Aro wants these invaders brought to him, alive; my guess preferably in one piece. I want their heads on a silver fucking platter to present to my mate as a present. The choice is yours. You can capture them and take them to the Main Chamber where Aro awaits I'm sure with praise the likes of which you will never hear from me. Or, you can bring me their heads and get nothing in return but a cheap necklace to show earned elevation within our ranks and world. Your future lies in your own hands."

Waiting a moment, letting my words sink in, I waved a hand and didn't move from my spot in front of the only exit in the room. "Dismissed."

Waiting for the room to clear, I pulled my phone from my hip, holding the 5 until the call connected, putting my phone to my ear when it did. Hearing a voice in my ear, I glanced behind me. "Alec, bring my girl to the catwalk of the training floor. Shit is about to get very interesting."

" _The catwalk?"_

I nodded as a smirk pulled at my lips as the lights in my head that were the Cullen coven were pushed closer and closer together, givin them far less wiggle room than they planned for. "The coven is a bunch of idiots, more so than I ever thought possible. The guard is forcing them here, and they are on the main level. I don't want them to see her just yet. I want her to see them first."

*X*

Waiting for Alec and Isabella on the catwalk, I kept tabs on the Cullens, but judging by the way the guards were playing with them, I was left to assume it was going to be awhile before anyone joined us. When the two of them entered, I pushed off the far wall, waving two fingers at Alec, telling him without words to wait outside the doors. If nothing else, to be a lookout or some shit, something he did without question.

Clasping my hands behind my back, I looked at my mate, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Clearing my throat, she snapped back to her glorious body, and gave me her attention. I licked my lips as I closed the distance between us.

"I assume Alec told you what's going on." She nodded and so did I. "When you were human, you and I had a conversation about the coven that broke into the palace today, though I am not confident you fully remember it."

I watched her eyes crinkle in the corners, and her head tilt slightly to the side before her voice floated to my ears. "Vaguely. What I remember about being human is pretty foggy."

I shrugged. "Normal, but I want you to think, hard, about what I told you the day I brought you here." She did. She went silent as she thought, but her eyes told me she was coming up empty. When she said as much, I enlightened her while coming clean about a few things as well. "You know them, or thought you did."

She grabbed the front of her mask and pulled it away from her face, her lips thinned and in a hard line. Her eyes were narrowed, and locked on mine. When she spoke again, her words were slow. "Strange... gold eyes. You... you took me from them."

I nodded. "Yes, I did. And you fought me every step of the way. You were convinced, through no fault of your own, they were the good guys. They had you conditioned to believe natural is horrible. Not only that, they had you believe you belonged to one of them."

Her eyes shifted around, her voice quiet. "That's why you took me away."

Again, I nodded. "Yes, it was. They were destroying you, little by little, day by day. Nothing I said to you made you believe otherwise. Our conversation the day I brought you home circled the same drain, more than once, always coming back to civility. Us guards were uncivilized beasts while they were nothing short of compassionate beings to all they crossed paths with, so long as it wasn't one of their own kind. The day I took you from them, they killed fifty vampires without a second of hesitation. Do you remember that?"

I left that memory alone, so she should. And when she nodded, she crossed her arms and looked down. "The newborns. It was an army, who wanted to kill all of us because of a nomad. I remember that now. It's fuzzy, but it's there. You... kidnapped me."

I shrugged. "If you wanna get technical, sure, but I was only doing my job that, at that point, had nothing to do with my position. The only reason I gave chase was because you ran. Had you not, nor would I have. Four months prior to that I warned you, I told you, and you didn't listen. What went wrong needed to be fixed."

She frowned. "If you went through so much trouble to fix things, why are you telling me about it now?"

I grinned at her. "That's the question, isn't? It's simple, actually. It's done, over, and fixed. There is no reason to lie to you, and don't think I liked doing it in the first place. I would rather not have had to, but one thing I have been very upfront about is my willingness to do whatever I have to, when it comes to you."

She nodded and looked at me through her lashes. "So, what you're saying is, you've been lying to me since I woke up."

I shook my head. "I haven't lied to you about a damn thing since two days into your change, and all I did was fix what they fucked up. They took far too many liberties with you, even after they knew better. Prior to your rescue attempt four months ago, there was plausible deniability on their part as to who you really belonged with. After you left, however, they didn't have it anymore, and they really stepped up their game to make you believe everything was perfectly fine, when it was anything but. At least one of them knew I was coming for you."

She scratched the back of her neck and cleared her throat. "So, if they knew that, why are they here?"

My grin turned into a smirk as a chuckle rumbled my throat. "And that, My Love, is the answer I can't wait to see your reaction to. They are here, because as we both know they are idiots, but also, because of your father."

She bulked. "My dad?"

I nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. He is holding them personally responsible for your disappearance. They came with the hope of finding you human, in order to turn you back over to your dad, so he stops digging around in their pasts where we both know what he's going to find since these stupid bastards refuse to use the brain Satan gave them and change their Goddamn surname when they move."

I knew the moment she figured out where I was going with that. She grabbed me by the arm, her bright red eyes looking up at me with a level of pleading I have honestly never seen before. "You can't kill my dad."

I was surprisingly unfazed. "I can, actually. Humans are so... fragile, breakable, not to mention delicious."

She whimpered, and I was set off the idea just a bit at the noise. "I'll call him, tell him... I don't know, I left to find myself before I got married, to make sure it's what I really wanted and..."

I shook my head. "I can't let you do that, and you know it. Gataki, he's going to die eventually, beit because of his humanity or because he doesn't let this go and the order comes for his death. It will be one or the other, and it will be up to him and him alone."

She grunted. "You really are a monster."

I nodded. "Yes, but a very honest one. I'm not going to sugar coat shit for you. That's one thing you should know by now. I never have, and I never will. If I tell you something, you can bet it's the absolute bottom line. I am telling you this because it's coming to the point everything is about to be exposed for exactly what it is. Me, them, you. Everything. This is the end of a very long, very intricate, web of lies. I have confessed to you my every sin, Gataki, and I'm pretty sure you're not very happy with me. I can live with that. I am telling you this now because you are going to see me do some very horrible things, and I am going to enjoy every second of it. I am going to enjoy every second of doing some very horrible things to people you are going to recognize. I can see in your eyes you remember far more than you ever want me to know. So, do as you have always done, and compare them; compare us. My coven, OUR coven, to theirs and tell me, Gataki, are you unhappy here?"

She shook her head. "No, but how do I know that's not just because of these fixes of yours?"

Grabbing her by the hips, I pulled her flush against me, and looked down at her. "Four memories. That's it. I fucked with four memories. The rest, you either have them or you don't. Now, if you are not unhappy here, were you unhappy there?" She dropped her eyes and I lowered my voice. "I know far more than you think, Isabella. I made it a point to. Just because I never said anything, doesn't mean I don't know exactly how you felt or how you were treated. Don't forget, that redhead that wanted you dead came to us first. We just told her no. Once we knew of you, you were watched, quite often, just to make sure you kept your mouth shut. Why do you think Felix and I weren't at all surprised to see you in the alley?"

She shrugged. "Edward told you about me."

I cocked a brow at her. "Edward told us you were dead, yet we still weren't surprised to see you standing there. Well, I was, but for a very different reason, which I told you that day when I left you in the reception area." Crooking a finger under her chin, I tilted her head back and looked in her in the eyes. "I am every bad thing you think I am, but one thing I am not is a liar."

Her voice was soft. "You lied when you changed my memories. I can't look back on any of them without getting a bad taste in my mouth."

"A bad taste you should have always had. If the Seer hadn't gone out of her way to change the future to suit them, I wouldn't have had to. Also, I would do it again. I have no regrets over my choice. When it comes to you, there is _nothing_ I am unwilling to do. For nearly two thousand years I waited for you to walk through those doors. Two thousand years later, you walk through those doors on the arm of someone else because of selfishness and lies. That bad taste? The destruction of those memories? There was a sense of pleasure that went along with my words on your deathbed as I took back what has always been mine. Your will, your sheer stubbornness against listening to reason prior to that first bite gave me all I needed to undo what was done to you. Do you honestly believe you would think me a monster had you not been exposed to their way of life to the extent you were? Drug into the recesses of our world by those who do not even truly live in it? You have happily killed numerous humans in your time here, most often each time in a more brutal fashion than the last. If you still fail to see what I'm trying to show you, I'll point it out. I am no more a monster than you are."

I was really surprised when she still didn't pull away. "You made me this way."

I shook my head, and she blinked in response. "No, not on my own. Believe it or not," I grabbed her wrist and showed her her original bite mark, "I had a little help."

She gasped. "James."

I hummed in my throat. "Something it seems they didn't know is, once the change starts, there is very little that can be done to remove the vemon from your body. You can clean the blood, but you cannot clean tissues, muscles, bones... they all take on venom and they all hold it just as easily. You were halfway to who you are now the very first time you were bitten. Had you changed then, you would have been brought here much, much sooner because they wouldn't have been able to control you, to teach you how to control yourself. Having a half psychotic sire hardly ever bodes well for the newborn.

"Your gift is what it is because of him. Your desire for violence is what it is because of him. Your love of bloodshed is what it is because of him. You didn't get any of that from me, and what of it you did, lies only in your gift. You are the perfect combination of me and him. You got your unlimited distance and the way your mind stores scents from me, but I am not a scent tracker, though my nose is more sensitive than most other's. The way your gift works is because of him. All of your loves and desires are his, but you have my ability to carry them out, or you will when you're older and with very little instruction I would think."

I gave her a moment for that to settle and when it did, she licked her lips. "I still don't understand why you're telling me this."

Cupping her cheek, I smiled at her. "Who would you rather hear this from? Me or them? Because, I promise you, if they are still alive, they will use whatever they can to get you to go with them purely to save their own asses. You will have a choice to make when they come through those doors as to which side you will come down on. I will make no more choices for you."

She swallowed and let out a breath. "Can I ask you something and for once get a straight answer?" When I nodded, she cleared her throat. "Why did you let me leave with them four months ago if you were just going to come to take me back?"

I clicked my tongue a couple of times before I answered. "Well, it certainly wasn't to make wedding plans. It was to give you time to do the one thing you didn't take the time to do. It will be a very long time, if ever, you return to that place, and I assumed someone of your age had a certain number of affairs to set in order. I gave you four months to do so, and you didn't. Anything that happens from here on out as a result of that, no matter how much you want to, you cannot place the blame on my shoulders. Whether you want to believe it or not, Gataki, I have actually always done right by you. You just never listened."

Her lip curled. "What do you mean?"

Crossing my arms and taking a moment to locate the guards and Cullens, I sighed when I realized our time was growing very short. Still, one last answer wouldn't hurt. "The day you arrived here I saved your furry little friend, which is more than I should have done when you decided not to listen when I told you to keep your mouth shut in the main chamber. When you left with those two morons you continued to allow them to poison you against this coven because you didn't listen to me when I told you not to believe everything you hear. You were six weeks shy of marriage because you didn't listen to me when I told you you would be mine. You were that before you left, and had you listened, you would have known that. You were so far up the asses of that coven you decided to allow the freedom of someone out to kill you within these walls, leading to a fight that destroyed priceless and irreplaceable artworks because you didn't listen to me when I told you if you do not kill them, they will kill you, nearly leading to your true death had I been detained much longer against the other two imbeciles that decided you were a snack. I have literally given you every ounce of information you could possibly need, and you fought me tooth and nail, every step of the way. On the plane here I told you it was time to face the consequences of your choices, and once again, that is exactly what you are faced with here. The only difference between now and then is this time, I will spare no one."


	15. Chapter 15

**BPOV**

I looked into Demetri's eyes, seeing solidity in everything he said. Was I truly so blind I missed all of that? I was really so naive when I was with the Cullens I didn't connect those clearly laid out dots? Hearing it now, point by point, I struck dumb for a moment with no retort, nothing to say. When you have your every oversight handed to you on a platter like I just was, it left you with a cold feeling in your gut. He really did give me everything I needed to avoid this, but I just refused to listen to him.

I could hear the sounds of approaching feet, but I couldn't look away from his eyes, so clear, so decided. He was ready to kill an entire coven, maybe more. I wasn't sure if it was for me or because of me, but in the end, I doubted it mattered. Alec said they were here for me, Demetri confirmed it, and I knew that shit wasn't going to fly. He killed for me as a human, saved my life without a second thought against his own men.

It was then my eyes dropped to his arm where I knew there was a bite he received because of me, because of my oversight, my mistake. Thing was, he didn't even care. He was more upset with Luna because of the shirt comment than he was with me about an injury he would always have.

But... he lied to me. He manipulated my memories for his own personal gain. Then again, he told me he did it. He didn't keep it from me when he very obviously could have, possibly forever. Also, I have to wonder if manipulation is really lying. He didn't change any facts, just how I perceived them. Is that really that fucked up when, apparently, I was a right bitch when it came to anything to do with either coven changing sides and my point of view of them? Other than a few questionable actions when it came to his leaving, Demetri had been nothing but the perfect gentleman towards me. All my needs, even if I didn't know I had them, were met without question or thought on his part. He never really forced anything on me. I can't hold my change against him because I knew that was coming the moment I found out about the Cullens and the laws of their world.

God damn it.

I leaned more into his palm that was still against my cheek with a sigh, and he smiled at me, a real smile, one I didn't see that often.

His voice was softer than it ever was when he spoke. "They're here, and your time is up. Make you choice, Isabella."

I licked my lips. "Do I really have one?"

He nodded. "You always do. Sometimes they are more limited than others, but there is always a choice."

I shook my head. "I can't go back to the way I used to see them."

"Given enough time, you certainly could."

I shook my head again. "No, I mean I can't go back to that, and not because of the screwing with my memories. As a human everything I did was wrong. I had the wrong friends. I had the wrong attitude. I had the wrong clothes, the wrong life in general. What I wanted hardly ever mattered, to any of them. I didn't, I don't, care for the lavish style they strive for. I don't like over the top, I never have, and that's forced on me through guilt. I don't want to feel guilty anymore."

He just chuckled. "My Love, you realize you currently live in a palace, right? No manor they own will ever compare to this place. Have you any idea how much that choker around your neck cost? How much money I've invested in your wardrobe in the last week you cannot seem to keep from destroying? Lavish, Gataki, is a way a life, and that's the way of life here."

I nodded to him. "But, if I said I didn't want something, would you force it on me by making me feel guilty of the fact you even thought about me at all?"

I watched his lip curl. "What the fuck would be the point of that? If you expressly didn't want something, wouldn't my time be better served figuring out something you do?"

I lowered my eyes and voice when the doors below us opened and banged off the walls. "I don't know." Looking over the side of the railing of the catwalk, I nodded to the floor. "You'll need to ask them."

He also looked to where I was, his lips thinning and eyes flattening. "Well, looks like no one gets their Crest today." For the first time ever, he looked at me, a smirk on his face, and spoke before vanishing. "If I am your choice, stay here. I'll be back."

I grabbed his arm before he dropped to the ground. "Demetri... let me help. There are so many."

He didn't look impressed, even as more than just the Cullens came into the massive room. He just leaned in and touched the tips of our noses. "I've faced worse. Remember this one tiny detail, Gataki. Never, at any point, is a guard on their own within these walls, even if it looks like it."

With that, he was gone and I was transported back to the first time I ever saw him charge into a fight as his floor length jacket floated down to my feet.

 **DPOV**

Landing in the center of the room, I crossed my arms, a smirk on my face as I took in the bodies across from me. Nine vampires, five smelly dogs; thirteen in total. They had balls, I would have to give them that.

Turning my eyes to Carlisle, I chuckled. "Still keeping the same company, are you? Master Aro will certainly be interested in hearing your alliance wasn't simply a one time ordeal to deal with a swarm of pests as we were original inclined to believe."

Always the diplomat, he stepped forward, his hands raised palms out, his voice as level as he could make it. "We are not here to fight, Demetri."

I cocked a brow at him. "Aren't you? If not, why the reinforcements? Why not come alone? Why the attempt at a break in? Why not simply call before your arrival? No, I know why you're here. It is for a fight, and it's with me."

He was pretty adamant when he shook his head. "No, we are simply here to retrieve..."

I cut him off. "My mate, I'm aware." Uncrossing my arms, I pointed to the rafters where Isabella waited on the catwalk. "She's right there. Take her if you think you can. I warn you, however, you will need to get through me first." Shifting my eyes, I grinned. "Hello Captain. It's been a very long time since I've seen you."

I watched as Peter rolled his shoulders. "Not long 'nuff in my opinion."

I cocked my head to the side. "Is that so? Then I must ask what you're doing here, with your own mate no less. What is it, I wonder, they have on you to gain your presence in a room where there is to soon be no survivors. Still a good little soldier following orders so long after retirement?"

He grunted. "You ain't one to be talkin' 'bout order followin' there, Fella."

I grinned and leaned forward. "I'm not retired, Fella. What I am, is pissed off. What you are, is fucked. There are some orders, Captain, that are best not followed. Helping to steal one's mate would be one of them."

He glanced at the empath who stood next to him. "The way I hear it, you took the Little Lady, and we just here ta get her back ta her Daddy."

I couldn't help it. I barked out a laugh. "I didn't exactly have high expectations of your collective intelligence, but you mean to tell me you want to take a week old newborn, and present to her her own father? I must say, points to you for coming up with something even I wouldn't do. That's fucked up." The Captain damn near looked like he swallowed his tongue, but I didn't pay much attention to the tongue lashing he then unleashed on the empath. Instead, I turned my attention to the mind reader. "So, Cullen, this is your poorly planned, half assed, ill-fated rescue, is it? Seven vampires marked for death on sight, two more lured in under false pretence, and five flea infested shifters, all of whom were outsmarted and overcome by less than half the number on our side inside the one place where you stand no chance. Bravo. At least when the roles were reversed she got you out of the palace."

His glare was about as impressive as a kitten. "Just give her back, Demetri, and we'll leave. There is no need for any of this or anyone else to get hurt."

I clasped my hands behind my back, a dark grin pulling at my lips. "I know this isn't something you're used to hearing, but I'm sure you know it's meaning... No." Looking up to the ceiling, I sighed. "My Love," looking over my shoulder, "I thought I told you to stay on the catwalk."

Though her mask was back in place, her eyes priceless in their shock. "How did you... I didn't make any noise."

I chuckled and tapped her mask over her nose. "It might not be as strong as yours, but it does work pretty well." I then looked back at Edward. "Well, Cullen. She's right here. You want her? Come get her."


	16. Chapter 16

**BPOV**

Looking on at the line of bodies in front of me and Demetri, I tried really hard to find the old sense of feelings I know I once had for them. I tried to envision things like they used to be, and I was blindsided by the fact I couldn't. It wasn't even the eyes, or the fact Demetri said he changed the way I reacted to them. It was... just not there. It was like looking at perfect strangers. I knew who they were, but, I didn't know them anymore. I was actually pretty used to that, though. Everything was new to me now, even things I've seen all my life didn't have the same familiarity they used to have.

I forced myself to wonder briefly if the manipulation of my memories did have something to do with that, but I had to dismiss the notion. They didn't even look familiar, much less evoke a sense of want in me to have anything to do with them. And, to the other side, there was no extreme hate either. It was nothing but indifference, like they just didn't matter. I knew enough about the past, my older memories surfacing and telling me I had decent times with them, but that was the end of it. In the last week with Demetri, though I couldn't completely dismiss some of things that happened over that time, proved he knew more about me than they ever cared to learn in the entire near two years I've known them.

Now, they want to take me away from the one man that generally cares about me for no other reason than they landed in hot water, dragging with them innocent people that had nothing to do with any of this. I looked first at the wolves, who were there for me when they didn't have to be, and knew they were only here because they didn't want me to become a 'bloodsucker'. Since it was too late to stop that, from the looks on their faces, they had already severed whatever ties they once had with me. I was their enemy now, and fighting for my return was beneath them.

My eyes then shifted to the two faces I had never seen before, the one Demetri called 'Captain'. He certainly looked ready to take off Jasper's head himself, and the woman with him didn't look any happier. They were put in a position to die, and it was through no fault of their own. It was that thought that had me grabbing Demetri's arm, and pulling his attention from the Cullens to me.

When he did, I glanced back at 'Captain', then looked up at Demetri. "You once told me you don't kill those that don't deserve to die, right?"

He cocked a brow at me, but nodded just the same. "It's a general rule, yes; though guideline would be more apt a term because if you also recall, I told you if you do not kill them," he turned away and looked back at the group of intruders, "they will kill you. I also believe that was demonstrated."

I bit my lip and debated that for a second. It was but, I really didn't think it would ever come to that. Looking up at him through my lashes, I lowered my voice. "He was lied to, Demetri. That's the only reason he's here."

He looked at me for a short moment, his eyes twisting with his thoughts before he sighed. "Still as soft towards others as always, are you, Gataki? Something we still need to work on it seems. But, very well. Captain." Looking away from me, he locked his eyes on the other vampire's. "I never want to see you again. If I do, for any reason, it will be the last."

A smirk pulled at the Captain's lips. "Gotta get that insurance policy, huh Tracker?"

I heard Demetri chuckle. "Something like that. You will be sure to one day answer for your own crimes, but that day seems to not be today, nor will it be on the back of someone else's. When you do fry, it will only be because of you." He then looked back down at me, his face clearly backing up his next sentence. "That was your one to save. The rest... their fates are their own."

I gasped. "His mate?"

Demetri snorted and shook his head. "Just as you and I, they are one." He then looked to the couple. "Leave, Captain, before I change my mind and you join your sire."

I would have thought the guy would have taken the cue and bolted, but he continued to stand there, looking at Demetri, saying nothing for a long moment. The anticipation in the room was growing to a palpable level, and this mother fucker took his good ass time to say whatever it was that came to his mind. When he did, I heard Demetri grunt, but to my surprise, he didn't interrupt. "Why don't I just g'on and take him with me? He don't wanna be here, and he the only one that gonna be able ta save that little dolly's daddy. Y'all ain't been together long, but I know ya don't actually wanna kill her pa."

Demetri scratched between his now closed eyes. "Your gift is as annoying as ever, Peter." He opened his eyes and smirked. "I will make you a deal, Captain. There are currently forty-five guards trained by me hunting you within these walls with the orders to bring me the heads of the three of you. If you three can make it out of the palace, I won't come after you... for now."

I watched something pass through Peter's eyes, but all he did was nod to the terms presented. I wasn't sure I would ever understand how someone that doesn't deal with Demetri on a daily basis would simply take him at his word like they do. This wasn't the first time I've seen this happen, and I would be willing to bet it wouldn't be the last.

I jolted when I saw Peter wink at me, but he was gone without another word, his mate and Jasper along with him, something else that I was trying to get used to. I was beginning to think it was more rude to say farewell than it was to not. Shaking that off though, I had to cover my ears at the sound of a shriek following their departure.

It was then I was able to put my finger on why I had reservation about this group of vampires. None of them looked overly please, but Alice looked at me, her eyes blazing, and screamed again, though I was unable to make out exactly what it was through the ringing in my ears.

I can vaguely remember a time when I was human and I thought I wouldn't get whiplash by moving too fast without knowing it was going to happen. Why I didn't know it was going to happen was beyond me, too. I wasn't wearing my mask, so I shouldn't have been able to be taken off guard like I was when I found my feet leaving the ground and sight being cut off by the big brick shit house that was Felix.

Grabbing onto his arm, I looked around his bicep and gaped at Demetri, unable to stop my tongue before I spoke. "You really haven't lied to me, have you?"

There was a chuckle on the air, and I looked around, seeing what was the equivalent of a fucking army between me and the Cullens. I shook my head, lips slightly parted. Guards really were never alone within the palace.

Looking up at Felix, I lowered my voice. "Where the hell did you come from?"

He glanced down with a grin. "The back door. Now, shuh. This is gonna be pretty."

Though I cocked a brow, I looked back into the room and waited to see what was so pretty, thought I would find I would term it more along the lines of magnificent. It was one thing to see bits and pieces as a human, but when you have the ability to follow someone's every move, what was once breathtakingly morbid was now magnificently sinister.

 **DPOV**

My ears were going to ring for a fucking week after that banshee mating call. It was so loud it stole my sight momentarily, but I was still ready enough to duck when the little imp dove at me. Wasn't so much ready for the second body that came behind her, though.

Kicking my legs up and over, I slid through the parting bodies of the guard on my toes and fingertips until I came to a stop. Head down, I lifted only my eyes, my lips pulled back from my teeth and a growl rumbled my throat. Reaching up with one hand, I popped my jaw back into place with a snap and a grin pulled at my lips as I locked my eyes on the mind reader as I remained crouched to the floor. "Alright, Bitch. Let's dance."

Lunging into a sprint, I dropped to my hip as he dove, sliding under him and recovering fast enough to grab his ankle, and toss his ass into the middle of the room. It was with an unspoken understanding that the guard then circled around us, ensuring there would be no interference.

He looked at me, and I at him. I could read in his eyes the fear that ran through his veins, thicker than any blood or venom. It was a palpable atmosphere, heavy with knowledge and understanding. I knew he was going to burn, and he understood this. He knew he wasn't going to make it out of the palace alive, and everyone understood that... perhaps all but my little mate. I could feel it, her discontent and upset over the situation as it stood. She didn't care for death, something she has made very clear many times over.

While there was no personal care for the mind reader in her heart, I understood that didn't equate to her wanting him dead. However, regardless of her not caring for his death to the point I did, she also knew, and understood, that was exactly what was going to happen. Had it not been for her, it would have been for something else, though that was the part she clearly didn't fully grasp.

I absolutely never lied to her, but I also didn't tell her everything. Some things were far better left unsaid, and the past transgressions against this coven were among those. She was not Edward's first human pet, and I am fully willing to bet she also wasn't his last. It was almost a certainty he replaced her a year ago when he left her, the narcissist unable to be alone but also unable to fully commit to anyone.

My head cocked to the side as I regarded him, him continuing to do the same to me. Curiously enough, the wedding proposal then popped into my head, making my eyes narrow as little pieces began to click into place. While I am positive the marriage proposal was for nothing but show to keep her quiet, I am just as positive the conversation Bella and I had on the plane was far more true than I had thought at the time. Though he would have found one way or another to get out of it, he didn't have to. Between he and the seer, they would have known exactly what was going to happen the day they left.

He just had to keep her happy - and human - until then.

For as stupid as the man-child was, he was smart enough to avoid changing someone else's mate. Now, here he was, trying to take her back, but for what real reason? This had nothing to do with her father. Her father was a human and very easy to deal with without resorting to suicide. Something else was going on here, and I had to take a moment to consider if I walked right into it.

His eyes sparked with something I didn't care to figure out and I went on the attack, allowing my mind to explore the possibilities of this uncovered implication and off what I was going to do to him. There was never any reason to make this easy for someone else. This fucker was certainly not my first fight with a mind reader, and he would certainly would not be the last.


	17. Chapter 17

**DPOV**

Lifting a hand, I ran a finger over my cheek, wiping the wetness that dripped on me from above as my eyes roamed the room. There was carnage, then there was the state of the Training Chamber. Looking at my fingers, I ran my thumb over the smear of crimson that stained my skin before casting my eyes to the ceiling, lifting a brow at what appeared to be a hind leg of one of the wolves that decided to include himself in a vampire fight. The fur was so matted in blood, even with my eyesight, it was impossible to tell which one it was.

My shoulder twitched from a new bite that was very close to taking my head, and had it not been for my mate, I wouldn't be standing. Seemed the seer and mind reader were in fact keeping far more secrets than thought, even from their own. How it was missed by the rest of their coven, I had no idea, but it also didn't matter. The whole coven laid strewn across the floor, waiting for reassembly so Aro got his chance with them.

Win-win in my book.

However, they weren't the only bodies that were dismembered, just only ones that would be put back together. Any guards that fell would simply be burned and forgotten.

Hearing a series of grunts to my left, I turned my head and saw the massive body of a wolf seem to pop off the ground a few times before it was kicked hard enough to get enough height for Bella to roll out from under it. Her clothing was shredded, her skin covered in blood and fur, and there were more than a few bite and slash scars that would now forever mare her flesh. I heard whimpers slip past her lips as she pushed herself to her knees to sit on her heels, a hand coming up and grabbing the worst of her injuries, which was a set of gaping claw marks around her bicep.

In a second I was beside her, crouching down and looking in her pink eyes. She had lost her mask at some point, but any pain from her gift was overshadowed by the pain in her arm. She looked back at me, her face drawn and voice full of pain when she spoke. "Are you okay?"

I reached out and plucked a tuft of fur from her hair, smiling at her when I dropped it. "Thanks to you." Lightly taking the elbow of her injured arm in my palm, I removed her hand for a better look and hummed, my eyes flicking back to hers. "This will hurt for a while, but they should start to close once you feed. They'll scar, though."

Licking my free palm, I did burn away the raised skin from the vampire teeth marks she received from the seer when she pulled the bitch off my back. Bella herself was responsible for the dismemberment of the seer and the death of the rust colored wolf that was dead set on killing her. Though she whined, she didn't pull away when I ran my palm over the fresh wounds like I had already done to mine. It wasn't really necessary, they would still be seen. It was more so they didn't pop off the skin anymore and instead kept it smooth. There wasn't anything I could do about the claw marks. Shifter claws were designed to tear us apart. She just got very lucky she was able to twist out of the way before it took her arm completely off, because there would have been no way to reattach it had that happened.

I felt Felix come up behind me, but I didn't turn my head as I focused on tending to my girl. I did speak to him though. "Told you none of them were worth a fuck."

There was a grunt, and I could picture him crossing his arms. "Right as always, Master Demetri."

I froze in place, eyes closing and letting out a hard sigh from my nose and growl from my throat. Clicking my tongue twice, I glanced behind me, brow cocked and voice flat. "Why the Hell are you calling me that? You kn...ow be...tter?"

It takes quite a bit to catch me off guard these days. After two thousand years, I've nearly seen it all, but him holding up the head of Aro was not at all what I was expecting as an answer to that question.

Slowly standing, I turned to face him fully, catching the head when it was tossed to me, turning it upside down and wrinkling my nose. "Oh... oh he's not coming back from this." His head was removed by the claws of a shifter, and we cannot reattach what was severed by those claws. Flicking my eyes from the bottom of Aro's neck to Felix's, I grunted. "What the fuck was he even doing in here?"

It was then Felix crossed his arms. "Your guess is as good as mine. It was something to see though. When it came to choosing between helping you or saving him, everyone cut off the wolves' path to you."

Wrinkling my nose so much my teeth showed, I made a noise in the back of my throat as I tossed the head over my shoulder, twisted back around, and crotched back in front of my mate. She had returned to holding her arm, but she was looking behind her where Aro's head came to a stop. "We'll sort it out later. For now, I have a mate to tend to."

"Demetri."

I ignored him completely as I scooped my mate into my arms and stood. Glancing back at Felix, I sniffed. "Get this shit cleaned up and burn the lot of them." I just wanted to feed my mate and get her a bath because she smelled to high heaven, but no. My path was blocked and all it did was piss me off. Glaring at the son of a bitch, I bared my teeth. "What?"

He pointed behind me and I looked back, seeing a sea of red looking at me, searching for answers about what the fuck they were supposed to do. Being more than a little sure I already answered that, I growled. "This room fucking reeks. Clean it." When another drop of blood fell from a above, landing on my arm, I glanced up before turning to leave again. "And get that fucking wolf down."

I was able to leave after that, but not make it all the way back to my chambers before my path was blocked by Caius and Marcus. I stared at them, they at me, and none of us said a word. Caius looked a little ruffled, telling me he was also at some point in the scuffle he also had no business getting involved in. Why any of them thought that after centuries of sitting on the sidelines while others did their bidding they thought they stood a chance against anyone was a mystifying question.

A whimper from Bella pulled me from the staring contest and down to her. She really needed to feed, and I wasn't exactly in the mood to entertain them. Not looking up from her, I continued toward my chambers, dipping my head with a 'Masters', as I passed between them. I was stopped, though, by Marcus asking me what I would have them do.

Pausing, I turned half way back, looking at them again as my head tilted to the side in thought. After a moment, I hummed. "Let the world think Aro is still alive. The only ones that know otherwise are dead or under my command. Nothing here changes." Turning my back on them, I continued down the hall. "I have no desire to be a king."

It was then Caius spoke up. "The guard's ties were to Aro."

I chuckled deep in my throat, but didn't turn back. "Keep telling yourself that."

Rounding the corner that led to the Elite wing, I glanced down at Bella, who was looking up at me with a drawn expression. "You have responsibilities to see to, Demetri."

I nodded once. "I certainly do, My Love." When her eyes lowered, I raised my arms, lifting her up so she as level with my and set my forehead against hers, lowering my voice. "And the most important of all of them is taking care of you."

Entering our room, I kicked the door shut behind me, and carried my mate straight to the bathroom. Setting her down on the counter, I left her there and went to the tub, turning on the hot water only and began running her a bath. Putting the plug in place, I stood and turned back, cocking my head to the side as I made my way back to her. "I have a question for you."

Setting my hands on the counter to either side of her hips, I bent at the waist until I was eye level with her. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, and nodded to my statement, so running the tip of my tongue over my teeth, I tised. "You were handed a way out. You could have let that pint sized bitch kill me, setting you free, allowing you to walk away. Yet, you stopped her and saved my life. Why?"

 **BPOV**

Looking into Demetri's eyes, I bit my lip harder at the question. I wasn't sure how to answer it. There were so many different reasons I didn't listen to him yet again and stayed out of it. I wasn't sure if he would like the answer, but I gave him the best one of the bunch.

"I knew what would have happened if I didn't. They would have taken me back to Washington. They would have put me in front of my dad." I could feel my eyes itch, but I knew I couldn't actually cry. "They would have presented me to my dad, and I would have killed him. I would have killed him without a second thought and they knew it. They would have made me kill my dad so he would stop looking into them, so they would no longer be in trouble."

It was then I shook my head, breaking eye contact and leaning back, look down at my ripped up jeans. "I was gone for a week before they came. They knew what they would find when they got here, they had to." Closing my eyes, I whined in my throat. "I was wrong about everything, Demetri. I'm so sorry." Looking at him through my lashes, I swallowed hard. "You were never the monster; it was always them."

To my utter shock, he grinned at me, amusement in his eyes as he chuckled low in his throat. "Well, I wouldn't go as far as all that, because I certainly am. I am every bad thing you ever thought I was. I do believe I told you that no more than a hour ago"

I licked my lips and let out a breath. "But would you put me in the position to kill my own father just to save your own ass?"

I wasn't surprised when he shook his head. "No, that I can say I wouldn't have done. But so we're clear, even your father's death would not have saved them. He was never really a threat. He was little more than an excuse on their part. It was about control for them, it always has been. Carlisle lost control of his coven a long time ago, and when you hand over the control of a coven to someone that will never mature enough to handle it, narcissism becomes an issue. A lack of consequences becomes an issue. Because that mind reader was never taught how to accept responsibility for his actions, and just take his licks like a man, I'm now in a really fucked up situation."

I grinned slightly, and he leveled me with a look of annoyance. "Head of Coven now, right?" He growled low in his throat, and I cleared my throat. "It was going to happen eventually, wasn't it?"

He just growled again as he looked up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at me. "Without doubt, but that's not the point. When you put so little care into the domino effect... when you think so little about how your actions affect the lives of others, especially the lives of me and mine, I get very angry and for all I can do? I cannot kill the same person twice."

I couldn't help it. He looked so annoyed over the fact that he couldn't bring Edward back to kill him again, I laughed in his face. Not only did I laugh, but I laughed hard. I had so much tension in my body, an entire week of emotions I didn't know how to dispel, that once I started, I couldn't stop. I was in physical pain, I was hungry, I was tired, I was wired for sound, I was angry, I was elated, I was everything at once and currently I'm sure I looked quite deranged, but I was starting to feel better.

And Demetri just stood there, a look of nothing short of indulgence on his face. It was such a condescending look, too. It wasn't meant to be one, I knew that, but it just made me laugh harder. He rolled his eyes at me, and shook his head. "So glad I amuse you, Gatáki."

I tried to gasp out an apology, but all it turned into was 'sorry', and 'I'm sorry' over and over as I tried everything I could think of to settle down. I couldn't move my arm that had the claw marks, so I just buried my face in Demetri's chest. "I'm so sorry... I don't know what's wrong with me."

With a chuckle of his own, he ran his fingers through my hair. "Oh, I know exactly what's wrong with you, My Love. You're a newborn." There was a pause, then a growl. "Oh, Goddamnit."

I pulled back slightly and immediately wished I hadn't. He forgot he was filling the tub, and it ended up overflowing. That did nothing to stop my laughter. All it did was make me snort so hard, that were I human, I would have shot him with a snot rocket. At this point, I was laughing without sound. Thank God I didn't need to breathe anymore, or I probably would have suffocated.

As he pulled away to turn off the water, I was finally able to get my voice to work, but it was shaded in my amusement. "Kinda pointless to have saved you now." He glanced over at me with a cocked brow, and I grinned wide. "Luna is going to kill you."

He cocked his head, his eyes roaming around the flooded bathroom, before he hummed and shrugged a shoulder. "Ah, well, I've had a good run."

That just made me laugh again.

I watched as he set about gathering towels and dropping them across the floor, and once I could talk without laughing, I smiled. "You make me happy. I'm happy here. You make me happy to be here." He was crouched down, but looked up at me, and bit my lip as I wrapped the arm I could move around my belly. "You were right before, when we were on the catwalk, about me and happily killing humans. I enjoy it. I enjoy all of it. The screams, the blood, the feeling of power I hold over their lives. It's... I enjoy it immensely. Life with them was never... right. There were so many rules and so many things that just... never seemed entertaining. Never ending high school? Always being watched and told what to do or what not to? Could you imagine what that would have been like had Edward changed me and I was still like this? Still enjoying the kill like I do? It would be miserable. There isn't any judgement here. There is a lot of other shit, but I'm not judged for just being what I am. It's waved off as unimportant, or laughed off as natural for what I am. I was degraded for being human and stubbing my toe, and abandoned for getting a papercut."

Demetri said nothing, just propped his elbow on his thigh and pinched his chin between his thumb and forefinger, looking up at me with soft eyes, letting me say whatever I wanted to say or felt I needed to get out, and I took the clear invitation to continue.

I licked my lips and shifted so I was leaning back against the mirror. "I know a part of me saved you to save my dad, but I think... I think it was mostly done from a selfish place. When Edward came back, he actually disabled my truck so I couldn't go see a friend of mine. He would stop me from talking to different guys at school because they had dirty thoughts, never mind they never once even tried to act on them. They just thought I was pretty. I didn't want to go back to that. I couldn't go back to that."

He remained silent for another moment, the side of his middle finger gliding over his lips as he thought. "So, you're not cross with me over the manipulation of your memories?"

Looking at him, I hummed. "I don't think that's what you did. You didn't change any of the actual details. All you did was change how I saw those details; changed my perspective, so to speak. Besides, it wasn't like I gave you much choice, did I? I don't have a lot of human memories anymore. They're... dim and fuzzy, but I know the facts of what happened, and I did make it very difficult for you. I won't say I'm sorry for it. I didn't know any better at the time. I know better now, and I think... I think that's what's important."

I paused before jumping tracks. "You know, I killed a childhood friend today; someone I've known almost all my life. There isn't a single molecule of my being that feels bad about that. There isn't even a tiny part of me that wishes I could take it back, that wishes I could change it. It was... _fun_. I actually wish I could do it again. I should despise myself for this, and I don't. I don't care. There isn't any part of that that's normal. There isn't any part of that that's okay. Every part of that tells me I'm exactly where I need to be." Then I snorted. "Christ, could you even imagine what Edward would have thought of me if he could have read my thoughts from the start? Honestly, he used to think I never thought bad things or dirty things, or this guy was cute, or what I would do to another if given the chance. If he could have read my thoughts from the start, he would probably still be alive."

"Very doubtful. He and the rest ran out of chances long before you. It was only a matter of time, really." It was then he stood, coming back over to me and retaking the position he had before the tub overflowed. "As far as him reading your thoughts, the only reason he couldn't was because you had a metal plate in your head."

Reaching up, I rubbed my forehead, a small smile on my lips. "My mother had this thing with new activities, and one of them was horseback riding. I was never the most coordinated human, and I was bucked off the back of one as a kid. Put a crack in my skull and that's where the plate came from."

His lips pressed together and he chuckled in his throat. "Well, it's not there anymore. There was a very good possibility he was able to earlier, he just didn't know they were yours."

Even knowing he was laughing at me, I ignored it and instead looked in him the eyes. "I never knew fear before. I thought I did. There was a lot that happened in the last year that terrified me. With what happened today, I learned what fear was, and I know one thing for sure now."

I watched his eyes turn to liquid, the small amount of red that was left after the fight dancing in the black ink. His voice was like velvet it was so soft. "And, what's that?"

Sitting up, I unwrapped my arm from my middle, the other just kind of dangling at my side as I locked my eyes on his. "When I saw Alice on your back, in that moment, I realized I am more afraid of losing you than I am of actually dying."

His face morphed, but I couldn't place the emotion. He clicked his tongue before he leaned in, his forehead pressing against mine, and his voice lowering to the point I had to strain to hear him. "You could have started with that one."

I had a witty retort at the ready, something to the effect of 'but where is the fun in that', but it died on my tongue when his lips pressed against mine.


	18. Chapter 18

**DPOV**

I was in my happy place between my mate's thighs, her body molded to mine. The arm she could move was wrapped around my neck and my fingers were threaded in her matted hair. She still needed a bath, but for now, I could deal with the smell. Quite honestly, I doubt I smelled any better to her.

Grabbing the back of one of her knees, I pulled her closer to the edge of the counter, her legs wrapping around my waist. A nip at her lips and she parted them without hesitation. I wouldn't let it go much farther than this. She was far too injured for it, no matter if she thought otherwise. A few meals and a couple for days for her to regain use of her arm, and there isn't a surface in the entire palace I'm not going to fuck her on.

Unfortunately, I wasn't given the opportunity to tell her as much before there was a knock on my door. Growling against her lips, because I certainly wasn't done with currently activities, I broke our kiss and sighed as I set my forehead against hers. "And it starts."

She didn't look upset, merely resigned as she raked her nails against my scalp. "Better answer it. You know Felix won't go away."

Humming in my throat, I pulled back and looked down at her. "I'm actually quite surprised you can smell him right now with all the wolf blood covering your skin."

The corner of her lips turned up and her eyes showed an annoyed amusement. "I can literally, always, smell everything."

Before i could say anything there was another knock, pulling another growl from my throat. "Jesus Christ... knock it off! I'll be right there, fuckface." Now, there was only amusement present on Isabella's face and I glared at her. "You too, Mate. Stay put. I'll be right back." Her eyes clearly told me she didn't believe that for a moment, and I couldn't blame her. I hardly ever was.

Leaving her on the counter, I left the bathroom and went to the door. I expected to see Felix, but not the two bodies he had hung over his shoulder. I just cocked a brow at him, and he shrugged the other shoulder. "There's pure chaos in the Training Chamber right now. No one is listening to anyone else, and Isabella needs to eat. I didn't think the catacombs were in the picture at the moment."

There was a light snort behind me, causing me to turn to the side. Bella was leaning on the doorway to the bathroom, her eyes pitch black, but not upset. She laid her head on the door jam, and smiled. "Go, before they rip each other apart and make things worse."

I just looked at her a moment longer before I turned my sights to Felix. "She was clawed by a wolf and can't move her right arm, so she'll need hand fed. And please, Isabella..." turning to look back at her, I saw her raise a brow. "Keep in mind this is not a feeding chamber." The most devilish looking smirk I have ever seen grace the lips of a newborn settled on her features, and I grunted.

I reached over and snagged a fresh cloak that was hanging over the back of a chair, I went to pass Felix, but his voice stopped me. "This is going to be bad, isn't it?"

Glancing up at him as I shrugged into my jacket, I pulled at my shirt from below the cuff to fix it and turned back. "You haven't had the pleasure yet, have you?" Arms behind my head to fix the back of the collar, I chuckled deep in my throat as I settled the lepels in place and he shook his head. Oh, you poor bastard. I smirked wide, showing my teeth. "Be careful. You interrupted us, Felix... and she bites."

I'm not sure if he actually took a moment to pray for his safety, or his he was merely preparing himself for what was about to happen, but either way, he waited a moment before he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. I wasn't to the end of the hall before I heard her snarl and him yelp like a dog. I laughed loud enough for it to carry back to the room, and the following 'fuck you' from Felix.

Well, if nothing else, I was in a slightly better mood as I headed back to the ground zero, even knowing the vast majority of the furniture in mine and Bella's room was going to need to be replaced.

 **BPOV**

"How the fuck does someone with only one arm make such a fucking mess?"

I just leaned against the bedpost, the hand of the arm I could move in front of my lips, sucking the blood from my fingers. I said nothing, and Felix just continued to look around the room that looked like any other when I was done eating.

He wiped a trail from his cheek that feel from the ceiling, his face confused yet covered in awe. "Seriously, Young One... I was _holding the bodies._ How? I mean, I know why I was bit, but... fuck. Demetri is going to be pissed."

Lifting the shoulder I could, I I used the nail of my pinky to pick a piece of flesh out of my teeth. Looking at it, I flicked it away and smiled. "I don't know. I taste blood and I just... black out. I don't know what happens between point A and point B." My own eyes surveying the room, I licked my lips clean and cleared my throat. "I can't help it, and he knows it." Then, I giggled. "The room was in need of a remodel anyway. It was so... five centuries ago."

I watched him roll his eyes and shake his head, and waited for my moment. He would have to get the body parts out of the room, and I figured he would do that by just chucking them over the rail of the balcony. Waiting for him to turn his back, I made my move.

Darting into the closet, I grabbed one of Demetri's cloaks and tore ass out of the room, slipping it on as I ran. I wasn't going outside, but I did want to cover the fact I wasn't covered anymore. Between the fight and feeding, my clothes were useless and even more covered in blood than they already were.

Calling Demetri's scent to the forefront of my mind, I followed the tail he left, and knew when Felix was in pursuit. I would make sure he wouldn't get in trouble, but I wanted to see Demetri actually work. I hadn't gotten to do so yet, and I wanted to see what kept stealing him away from me.

I saw the pink trail leading to the stairs that went up to the catwalk, but didn't follow them. Instead, I slipped through the crack in the door that led to the Training Floor. Skirting the outside of the room, I stopped breathing. There were a lot of bodies, and I didn't have my mask. I didn't even know where it was. I lost it in the fight against Jack, and have no idea what happened to it.

Pulling the hood over my bloody hair, I kept my face hidden as I weaved through the bodies that peppered the walls of the room. Since it was no cleaner now than it was, my scent was easily covered since it blended in with rest of the wolf blood all over the dam place. I had no idea the guard was so big, or that Demetri oversaw what was literally hundreds of vampires. Things certainly made more sense now. Not like he could just stand back and let this many vampires go at it. They would rip the palace completely apart.

When I got to the middle, I still kept as much of my face hidden as I could as I looked up the catwalk. There Demetri stood, his hands on the metal railing, Caius and Marcus to either side of him, and Jane and Alec to the sides of them. Demetri's face was hard, his eyes completely black, but I was unsure if it was because he was pissed off or he just needed to eat.

I ducked my head slightly before his eyes landed on my position, and waited a few beats before I looked back up. He wasn't looking where I was, so I leaned back against the wall. His voice never seemed so... enthralling before.

"I challenge everyone present to name one time, one single time, I have put up with disobedience. Name a single time when I gave an order I did not expect it to be followed. I gave a very simple order; clean this fucking chamber. Easy, simple, hardly worth mentioning compared to basically any other order I have ever given out. No difficulty involved, and something that shouldn't have taken any time at all. It was an order, not a request, so imagine not just my surprise, but my level of sheer annoyance when I was pulled away from my mate, again, to deal with your petty fucking bullshit. Squabbling amongst yourselves for shit you have no claim to. Fighting against each other for a position you do not deserve.

"I'm sure by now all of you know, through his own stupidity, Aro is dead. I'm sure all this pointless bickering between you all is somehow connected to that. I am here to tell you your lives have not changed. Nothing here has changed. If anyone thinks to try and take his place..." he held his arms out to the side and straightened his spine, standing to his full height, "come on then. I will not run. I will not hide. I will take you all on but you remember this one thing before you step up to the Devil. You took me away from my mate, my _injured_ mate, forcing me to leave her in the care of someone that lacks the ability to keep her confined to a room."

Uh...oh. His eyes locked on mine, and I cringed. However, he didn't stop as he continued to addressed the room before him. He did begin to pace, though.

"Do I want Aro's job? Fuck no I don't but you will fight me for it." With that, he hopped the railing, landing in the center of the room where everyone present tripped over the next to get away from him. The cloak he chose snapped at the tail when he popped out his crouch. His arms were out to the side, and his face darkened to a level I have never seen before. "You want to be my boss? You want to tell me what to do? Step up and force my submission. Surely if you'll fight against each other for the power to lead, you'll fight the one that actually holds it."

He turned and looked around the room, his eyes daring anyone to step forward, and held up a finger. "Before you attempt to do something as foolish as force me to submit to you, you should know I am in an exceptionally bad mood. Not only will I pound you into the ground, it will so far below the surface, no one will ever find all the pieces." Then he smiled, but it was anything but nice. "Anyone? Anyone at all?" He turned a circle, but no one moved a muscle, making his smile all the darker. "No one? Not a single person in here wants to fuck?"

I cleared my throat and his eyes cut to mine, but they narrowed and I looked away.

He then addressed the room again. "Then I suggest you stop fucking yourselves, and get this Goddamn room clean. If I come back in here and it still reeks of shifter blood, may God show you mercy because I have no intention to." He then turned toward the door, barked my full name, and I gulped.

I didn't, however, leave him waiting.

Threading my arm through his presented one, he walked with purpose from the room, growling at Felix who stood just outside the door, though he said nothing as he led me away. He didn't stop until we were in a hallway a decent distance from the chamber, and he released my arm, crossing his, and looking down his nose at me with pure annoyance on his face.

I bit my lip and looked down. "I just wanted to see what kept taking you away from me."

His tone was irritated and words clipped. "You could have just asked."

I looked up at him. "Would you have let me come if I had?"

He leaned back against the wall and propped his foot behind him, shaking his head. "Not this time, no. That could have ended much different than it did, I certainly wouldn't have wanted you to be there to see it."

Reaching up under the hood, I scratched at the drying blood on my scalp. "So... those barbaric means you talked about when you first brought me here?"

He uncrossed his arms and looked at his nails for a moment before recrossing his arms and looking at me. "Vampiric submission is obtained through sexual exploitation. It starts with a fight, and I bet I don't need to tell you how it ends."

I shook my head and bit my lip. "No; I think I got it." I then looked up at him through my lashes. "Have you..."

I trailed off, and he didn't make me actually ask. He just nodded. "Yes. I told you, I earned my place, and it has nothing to do with my gift. I will also be sure to have to defend it once word gets out that Aro is dead. When that happens, they will have to kill me to take my place, because I will submit to no one but you."

I blinked and jerked back from him at his words. "Me? I... I can't... I would never be able to beat you."

He actually laughed, the sound bouncing off the walls around us as he smiled and crossed the halls to stand in front of me. His hands came up and took up a place to either side of my head, caging me between him and the wall. His voice lowered and took on a tone I knew very well. It was the same cynical way he used to talk to me before he bit me. "No shit. You're still so young, and you still have so much yet to learn. My submission to you isn't forced, Agapimenos; it's done willingly. Your wants and wishes are my pleasures, and your pleasures are my wants and wishes. It's the way of mates. One day, years down the road, possibly even centuries into the future, you'll know exactly what that means. Eventually, you'll understand why I did everything I've done, and will do, for you. You think you do now, but you don't; you can't, and that's fine. You're not supposed to. But, when it happens, you'll look back, to this time, and everything that makes so little sense now you'll see with crystal clear clarity."

I was drowning in his eyes, but I was able to keep enough of my mind working to be able to get my mouth to so the same. "And what will I see?"

His entire presence changed right before my eyes. His darkened, the whites vanishing as the orbs took on the most possessive look I have ever seen. His voice took on a growl that settled right between my legs. "That you have always been mine, and you will be mine for eternity."


	19. Chapter 19

**BPOV**

I was curled in Demetri's arms, just enjoying being held while he pretended to be sleeping. I learned over our time together that sleep was the only thing he missed about being human. A handful of hours where he didn't have to think or deal with bullshit. He could just... be.

There certainly had been a lot of bullshit going on since the fight with the wolves and Cullens. I also learned the difference between when it was fine not to listen to him and when it was absolutely necessary I day it happened someone leaked the death of Aro. There had already been three attempts at someone else coming in to try and take over the vampire world, and Demetri was having none of it. He says he doesn't want the title, but to the literal death he has defended the position. I saw him do it the second time.

I've seen him fight before, and he doesn't back down while the other guy is still moving. I slipped my babysitter, again, and watched from a distance as he met the mob head on. Just like with Alice, and without full use of my arm back, I shot forward and stepped in to help, not knowing he absolutely did not need it. When it was over, the fire set, and the one he allowed to live to tell the tale running with his tail between his legs, I found myself pinned to a tree with his hand around my throat, his eyes dark and voice sinister as he snarled at me. "The next time you come out here after I specifically tell you to stay out of it, before I kill them, I will force them to submit, and I will force you to watch."

You better believe I stayed exactly where I was told to stay the next time it happened.

When he came back from that one, he told me simply that it was to be expected, and it would stop once word of who was defending the palace made its rounds. Until then, I needed to remember he had been defending the Volturi stronghold for more than two millennia, and he was pretty damn good at it. If it were to come to him needing help, that was why there was a guard, and expressly pointed out the fact I wasn't on it, I never would be on it, and I needed to stop acting like I was on it.

I took that time to ask why, if he didn't want the title, he so adamantly stopped others from coming to take it. That was an easy answer for him. "I've spent enough time taking orders. I'll burn in Hell before I take them from someone else." I asked him what would happen to me if he died. That one took him a moment to answer, but he left it at promising me I'll never have to find out. I also asked him why he didn't want the title, and he told me he would take it eventually, but at the moment, I was more important and he didn't want to deal with the transition until I was older, but until then, he had to make sure the position was still open.

I told him he was weird, and he just laughed.

Everything happened two weeks ago, and I could now finally move my arm again, but the gashes still hadn't fully closed. I thought as a vampire there wouldn't be a need for medical treatment, but there certainly was, and it fucking hurt. It involved a lot of alcohol, venom, and elastic bands. Turns out, when Demetri said they would close, what he actually meant to say was he would be forcing them closed. One at a time, from the edges to the middle, he had painfully, and painstakingly, forced my skin back together, burning it into place with his venom, and wrapping my arm tightly in elastic to hold the gashed closed while his venom did what it was supposed to do. The alcohol was for me because holy fuck, did it suck.

In two weeks, there was still one and a half of the four to go.

Today was downtime for us because he had just finished with the torture of closing Jake's claw mark, and I refused to let him just do that shit and walk away. So, here we are, in bed, cuddling while he pretends to sleep and I pretend I'm not in unbearable pain.

Sighing, I press myself closer to him when his phone buzzed on the table. He didn't even flinch, choosing to ignore it, though how I'm not sure. Fucker was normally glued to it these days. When it stopped and started again, I opened my eyes and looked up at his chin. "You're not going to answer?"

He didn't move a muscle. "There is nothing about that call that could be more important than making sure you're alright. I know how much pain you're in right now, whether you'll actually tell me or not."

Pursing my lips, I lowered my eyes to the blue band wrapped around my arm, and grunted. "It certainly isn't awesome, but," looking back up at him, "it could be another security breach."

He merely shifted a shoulder. "Doubtful. If it were, someone would have come and gotten me personally when I didn't answer the first time. No, this is merely an annoyance." When the buzzing sounded a third time, he unwrapped his arm from around my back and rolled to his, reaching behind him and plucking the device off the table. Holding it up so he could see the screen, his brows creased. "Curious. I don't know this number." I could see the debate in his eyes over whether he was going to answer it or not, but made his choice as he flipped his phone open with his thumb and placed it to his ear. "Demetri."

I couldn't hear what was sai on the other end, for whatever reason, but I blinked when he took his phone away from his ear and held it out to me as he closed his eyes again. "It's for you."

Lip curling, I very slowly reached for the phone, but I stopped right before I took it. "Who is it?"

I heard him snort softly before he dropped the phone without looking, forcing me to catch it or get hit in the face. "Say hello, Agapimenos."

Glaring at him, I brought the phone to my ear, though I wasn't exactly happy about it, and my voice showed it. "Hello?"

" _Well, howdy ta you too, Little Lady. 'Member me?"_

I licked my lips, brows drawing down as I placed the heavy accent. "Demetri called you 'Captain', right?"

" _Peter'll be just fine. I'm callin' 'boutcha daddy."_

If my heart still beat it would have stopped. Slowly I sat up and looked back at Demetri, who was looking at me through a cracked open eye. Scratching the back of my neck, I tried to swallow the lump that formed in my throat. "Is he alright?"

" _He gonna be just fine. Jasper gonna hang 'round while an', he gonna make sure a it."_

I cleared my throat as I ran the side on my thumb under my nose. "I... I'm, uh, I'm dead to him, aren't I?"

" _By now, you gotta know it fer the best, Little Lady. He can't be lookin' for ya no more."_

I closed my eyes and sighed. I did know that, but it didn't make it make me feel any better to know it happened. At least my mom had Phil. My dad had no one. Unable to think about it anymore, I scratched my temple. "What does everyone think happened to the guy from the reservation?"

" _You mean them pups? I ain't got no idea, but I imagine those that know what they were know they ain't comin' back. Happens when boys think they bigger than they britches."_

"But... they took on an army."

" _Sure, a army a babies that don't know what the fuck they doin'. That what the Major trained 'em ta do. They weren't eva gonna be ready ta take on that fella ya yers and walk away from_ his _army. It just wasn't gonna happen in a week. 'Sides that, rumor has it you took down one a 'em."_

I blinked, snapping my head around a looked at Demetri, a smirk on his lips. "Wow... rumors sure develop fast, don't they?"

My lip curled in the corner and my eyes narrowed. "You did something."

He snorted, and Peter's voice was back in my ear. " _He don't need ta do shit. That fella aside, you just 'member this, Little Lady. I owe ya fer whatcha did fer my mate and me. Jasper owes ya to, and he know it. You eva need anythin', don't you hesitate ta let us know."_

I clicked my tongue a few times as I thought, and glancing back to the vampire behind me, I licked my lips. "The attempts on Demetri's life are pretty fucking annoying."

I wasn't sure what it was, but there was a change in the tenor of Peter's voice when he chuckled. " _Consider it done, Little Sugar. I promise ya, by this time tamorra, ain't no one gonna be wantin' none a that fella ya yers."_

I blinked. "You can do that?"

" _What? Ya think I can't? Little Lady, you ain't got no idea who the fuck you talkin' to. You let me take care a them pests that comin' afta ya man, you just let that man take care a that arm."_

"How did you..."

Before I could finish the question, Demetri plucked the phone from my hand and put it to his own ears. "Goodbye, Captain." With that, he closed his phone and tossed it back on the bedside table before wrapping me back in his arms and laying down. "That vampire never did know when it was time to stop talking."

Squirming around so I could see Demetri's face, I made a noise in the back of his throat. "How did he know about my arm? How did he know about Jake? He wasn't here for any of it."

He opened his eyes and looked down at me. "So is the annoyance of Captain Whitlock. It's merely something that comes with knowing the man. He has his uses, though. Sometimes, however, you just want to fucking throttle him."

Next thing I knew, I was on my back, Demetri perched above me, and his eyes that were bright red a moment ago were now pitch black. His voice took on a growl, and I bit my lip in the face of his demon. "Now, since you just had to request he take away my fun, I am holding you completely accountable for replacing it."

He settled himself between my legs, and my breath caught when he rolled his hips. "You said not until my arm was healed."

He dipped his head and bit my neck where his mark laid. "I said until you could move it."

The look in his eyes when he pulled back was one I truly hoped I saw all the time. It was so reminiscent of how he looked at me when I was human that I couldn't appreciate at the time. It was the same one that settled on his features the first time I ever saw him in the alley the day I saved Edward. Possession, want, love... it was such an odd combination, but it was a combination I hoped to never tire of.

His lips descended to mine, and I melted beneath him at the contact. I guess I really had always been his, and since he spent the last two thousand years waiting for me, seems I had a lot of time to make up for.

 **~Thanks for reading!**


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